SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Immigrants recently detained in southern New Mexico face new criminal charges of violating the defense area after the US Army cooperated with immigration authorities to take overseeing a 170-mile strip along the US southern border.
What you need to know
The charges against at least half a dozen immigrants for unauthorized entry into military defense property have been signed by US lawyer Ryan Ellison
Federal prosecutors applied an additional fee for invasion into the newly designated New Mexico Defense Area for immigrants detained by customs and border guards in the U.S. border zone, which is treated as an extension of the U.S. Army’s stationed in Fort Huachuca.
The move is part of an effort to circumvent federal laws that prohibit US military use in American soils by domestic law enforcement agencies.
Federal prosecutors on Monday applied an additional fee for recently designated New Mexico Defense Area invasions for immigrants detained by customs and border security to intensify the deployment of troops into the US border area, where the military is being treated as an extension of Fort Garrison Fort Fort Fu Achuca in Arizona.
The Trump administration says these soldiers have the power to temporarily arrest trespassers in an effort to circumvent federal laws that prohibit US troops from being used by domestic law enforcement in American soil.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses highlighted the changes on Friday while visiting troops at the New Mexico border.
“Illegal attempts to enter that zone are in military bases, a federally protected area,” he said in a video posted by social media along with the boundary wall. “You will be blocked by the US military and the Border Patrol.”
Rebecca Sheff, a lawyer for the New Mexico-based ACLU, warned that the military buffer zone “represents a dangerous erosion of the constitutional principle that the military should not police civilians.” She expressed concern that US citizens living near the border could be prosecuted under the same regulations.
The charges against at least half a dozen immigrants for unauthorized entry into military defense property were signed by US attorney Ryan Ellison, a New Mexico native who took office on April 18th.
Forces are prohibited from carrying out civil law enforcement in US soil under the Collective Comitatus Act. Exceptions known as doctrines of military purposes allow them in some cases.
The newly militarized corridor includes Roosevelt reservations, a 60-foot-wide federal buffer zone that lines ribbons along the border, unless you encounter tribal or private property.
Roosevelt’s reservation management was transferred from the Home Office to the Pentagon in mid-April to the President’s memo. The Ministry of Home Affairs also has designated areas beyond Roosevelt’s reservation for a transfer to military surveillance.
Since then, the Army has announced several military deployments to increase surveillance, expand roads and raise barriers to shore at the border.
