Trump authorizes military to take control of federal land along the border
CNN
President Donald Trump sent a memorandum to four federal agency heads Friday night instructing them to allow the military to use and take jurisdiction of federal land along the US-Mexico border.
President Donald Trump sent a memorandum to four federal agency heads Friday night instructing them to allow the military to use and take jurisdiction of federal land along the US-Mexico border. The memo, sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins, states that the military must “take a more direct role” in efforts to secure the border and calls on the secretaries to act to provide the Defense Department “use and jurisdiction” over certain federal lands “to enable military activities” on military installations. The memo states that the Defense Department should be provided jurisdiction over lands including the Roosevelt Reservation – a 60-foot-wide swath of land along the border – for military purposes including border wall construction and installing detection and monitoring equipment. The memo excludes Federal Indian Reservations. Trump mandated that the US military step up its presence along the southern border on his first day in office, and thousands of additional active duty US troops have been ordered there as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing military mission at the border, CNN previously reported. Because Trump has declared a national emergency at the border, according to the memo, Burgum “may make withdrawals, reservations, and restrictions of public lands to provide for the utilization of public lands by the Department of Defense.” The memo also confirms what CNN reported last month was in the works: plans for the military to take command of a swath of territory along the border by designating federal lands as a military installation.
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