Pentagon Adds New Military Border Zone as Migrant Arrests Continue to Pile Up

The Pentagon has established a second National Defense Area (NDA) along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a broader military initiative to monitor and deter illegal crossings. The newly designated El Paso National Defense Area (EPNDA) will become part of Fort Bliss in Texas and stretches about 63 miles along the southern border.

This move follows the April 15 designation of the New Mexico National Defense Area (NMNDA), a 60-foot-wide, 200-mile-long strip of land now under Department of Defense control.

Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander of USNORTHCOM said in a statement that service members stationed in these areas may temporarily detain individuals suspected of trespassing until they are transferred to law enforcement authorities:

"The establishment of a second National Defense Area increases our operational reach and effectiveness in denying illegal activity along the southern border. Service members who are already detecting and monitoring through stationary positions and mobile patrols nearby can now temporarily detain trespassers"

Court records reviewed by Border Report and revealed in a report on Thursday confirm that migrants have already begun facing prosecution for entering military property without authorization. At least seven individuals have been charged in the NMNDA since April 24, including Alexander Aguilar Morales, who was apprehended five miles west of the Antelope Wells, New Mexico, port of entry. Agents stated he had no legal claim to be in the U.S. and formally charged him with unlawful entry of military property four days later.

Other apprehended migrants include Eleazar Acosta Flores and Marcial Perez Diaz, both of whom admitted in court that they saw posted signs indicating the land was restricted military territory but entered anyway.

The Pentagon has deployed nearly 8,000 troops to the Southwest border in response to a directive from President Trump earlier this year, including forces from the Fourth Infantry Division and Joint Task Force–Southern Border, as The New York Times reports. Their mission includes border surveillance, monitoring, and assisting civilian authorities in enforcement.

The expansion has drawn concern from civil rights organizations. "As New Mexicans, we have deep concerns about the enhanced militarization of our borderland communities," said Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico, to Border Report. Sheff also criticized the use of military detention powers within the New Mexico National Defense Area, calling it "a dangerous erosion of the constitutional principle that the military should not be policing civilians."