President Donald Trump has a new plan to “secure” the southern U.S. border—and it includes significantly increasing the role the military plays in border security. In a memorandum released late Friday, the administration lays out a plan to have the Department of Defense to claim jurisdiction over a small strip of public land, called the Roosevelt Reservation, along the border as part of a bid to “enable military activities” like border wall construction and the placement of detection and monitoring equipment. The Roosevelt Reservation is a narrow strip of land along the U.S. side of the border that passes through four states – California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas – and runs for nearly 2000 miles. One-third of the strip is made up of federal and tribal lands, while private and state-owned lands make up the rest. “Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats. 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.” The Wall Street Journal reports that this move had been in the works for weeks, including the potential for using the zone to temporarily hold migrants who cross the border illegally. Trump’s Friday night order does not mention the establishment of temporary detention facilities.
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