US Transfers 100,000 Acres of Borderland in New Mexico to the Army

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to New Mexico today to announce the emergency withdrawal and transfer of administrative jurisdiction over approximately 109,651 acres of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border. The land will be transferred to the Department of the Army for a period of three years, subject to valid existing rights.

This action is intended to safeguard sensitive natural and cultural resources in the region while enabling the Department of the Army to support U.S. Border Patrol operations in securing the border and preventing illegal immigration.

 
“Securing our border and protecting our nation’s resources go hand in hand,” said Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “The American people gave President Trump a mandate to make America safe and strong again. This transfer reflects Interior’s commitment to public safety, national security and responsible stewardship of our public lands.”

The Department of the Army requested the withdrawal and transfer of these lands on an emergency basis to allow for the increase in regular patrols by federal personnel, construction of infrastructure to prevent unlawful entry, disrupt foreign terrorist threats to the U.S., and to curb illegal cross-border activities, such as unlawful migration, narcotics trafficking, migrant smuggling, and human trafficking. President Donald J. Trump declared a national emergency earlier this year along the southern border and directed members of his Administration to take swift action to combat all illegal activity within the region.

The crisis along the border isn’t limited to national security and law enforcement concerns but also presents an environmental crisis. In this region, the Bureau of Land Management manages these public lands under its multiple use and sustained yield requirements. These lands serve as habitat for 23 federally endangered species and are the home of cultural sites that range from small artifact scatters to large multi-room pueblos. Transfer of the management of this land to the Army will facilitate military engagement to prevent unauthorized human activity in ecologically sensitive areas along the southern border, which can be harmed by repeated foot traffic, unregulated vehicle use, and the creation of informal trails or camps. High-traffic illegal crossings can lead to soil erosion, damage to fragile desert vegetation and critical wildlife habitat, loss and damage to cultural resources, increased fire risk and pollution from trash and human waste.

Additionally, transfer of the management of these lands to the Army will allow the military to assist the Border Patrol to construct and maintain border security infrastructure without delays or conflicts that can come with competing land uses or claims, helping control migration flows.

Interior recognizes that some of the acres transferred to the Department of the Army are essential to the livelihoods of communities in that area. The Bureau of Land Management will work with the Department of the Army to ensure that some uses will continue to support local grazing and mining.

Roosevelt Corridor

The corridor, known as the Roosevelt Reservation, is a 60-foot-wide federal buffer zone that ribbons along the border from New Mexico to California, except where it encounters tribal or privately owned land. It had been run by the Interior Department until Trump directed control be transferred to the Defense Department in a presidential memo released Friday night.

For the next 45 days, the Defense Department will test taking control of a section of the Roosevelt Reservation in New Mexico, east of Fort Huachuca, which is an Army installation in Arizona, one of the U.S. officials said. During that period, the Army will put up additional fencing and signs warning people not to trespass.

The transfer of that border zone to military control — and making it part of an Army installation — is an attempt by the Trump administration to get around a federal law that prohibits U.S. troops from being used in domestic law enforcement on American soil.

But if the troops are providing security for land that is part of an Army base, they can perform that function. However, at least one presidential powers expert said the move is likely to be challenged in the courts.

Sources DOI, Seattle Times