Trump Team Makes Plans For Military To Hold Migrants At Border

The Trump administration is evaluating plans for the Pentagon to take control of a buffer zone along a sprawling stretch of the southern border and empower active-duty U.S. troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross into the United States illegally, according to five U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.

Those discussions have been underway for weeks, and they center, in part, on a section of border in New Mexico, officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to disclose details of the plan. In effect, the move would turn the buffer zone into an expansive satellite military installation, potentially allowing a greater portion of the Defense Department’s mammoth budget to pay for President Donald Trump’s border crackdown while creating new legal jeopardy for those caught trying to slip into the country from Mexico, these people said.

The effort would enable the most significant use yet of active-duty forces at the border under Trump, though any move to militarize the southern border’s buffer zone is certain to raise questions about whether employing the military in this way runs afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law that prohibits active-duty troops from most law enforcement missions. To date, the Trump administration has addressed such legal considerations by having Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement detain people and move them once in custody, including on U.S. military flights involved in its deportation efforts.

If the plan is approved, and administration officials deem it successful, the military-controlled buffer zone, measuring 60 feet deep, eventually could stretch west to California, officials said.

As part of the effort, senior Pentagon officials have asked military officers to examine whether any legal complications could arise from having U.S. troops temporarily hold those crossing illegally when CBP agents are not immediately available to arrest them, officials said. By militarizing the buffer zone, the theory goes, any migrant apprehensions made by service members would be tantamount to catching trespassers on a military base: The troops involved would simply hold them until law enforcement arrives.

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