April 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Defense is now in charge of securing the country’s southern border, having been granted new powers to enforce security there by President Donald Trump.
Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum signed earlier in the week allows the military to take control of the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide strip of land running along the southern border.
“The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past,” Trump wrote in the memorandum.
“I assigned the Armed Forces of the United States the military missions of repelling the invasion and sealing the United States southern border from unlawful entry to maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States.”
The federal government controls about 33% of the land abutting the southern border, although that number includes federal Native American reservations which are exempt from the memorandum. The remainder of the land is either privately held or owned by the four border states.
The belt was created in 1907 by then-President Theodore Roosevelt to combat cross-border smuggling.
Taking control of the land is necessary to “enable military activities directed in this memorandum, including border-barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment,” Trump said in the memorandum.
American soldiers and equipment are now able to set up along the perimeter in long stretches in Arizona, California and New Mexico. Military personnel are now also authorized to detain anyone suspected of crossing the border illegally.
Trump has made repelling illegal immigration a pillar of his presidency, signing executive orders to combat it since taking office. Several are still being challenged in court.
This week’s memorandum gives the Secretaries of Defense, the Interior, Agriculture and Homeland Security an initial 45-day period to assess the effectiveness of the initiative.
“At any time, the Secretary of Defense may extend activities under this memorandum to additional Federal lands along the southern border in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor, and other executive departments and agencies as appropriate,” the memorandum states.