The U.S. Army confirmed that U.S. troops just held the first illegal immigrants in the areas that President Donald Trump’s administration designated as military hotspots along the southwestern border between the United States and Mexico earlier this year.
260 km along the southwestern border in Texas and New Mexico have been designated by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as extensions of U.S. Army bases and military districts, allowing U.S. troops to prosecute any unlawful immigrants and any other intruders inside the military districts, according to Reuters.
A U.S. Army director, Major Geoffrey Carmichael, reported to Reuters that three “illegal creatures” were being held by U.S. soldiers on June 3 near Santa Teresa in New Mexico, and that they had been taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol.
This is the first time Department of Defense workers have recorded a temporary detention within either National Defense Area, according to Carmichael, according to Carmichael.
READ MORE: The US government is then able to prosecute illegal refugees along the southern border.
U.S. Northern Command announced in April that New Mexico’s National Defense Area’s “installation surveillance support operations” had been delegated and directed to do so.
U.S. Northern Command officials at the time stated that since the Trump administration had authorized the United States to “temporarily detain trespassers on the NMNDA until an appropriate law enforcement entity can assume custody” and to” conduct cursory searches of trespassers on the NMNDA to ensure the safety of U.S. service members and Department of Defense ( DoD ) property.
Despite the fact that U.S. forces have been given permission to partially apprehend intruders along the southern borders, Reuters reported that the Army’s main task is to track and identify those who illegally cross the southern border. According to the Army, U.S. troops have so far discovered approximately 390 illegal border crossings in the designated martial areas along the southern border.
