Trump authorizes military to seize control of federal land at southern border

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Donald Trump has issued a memo Friday night directing four federal agencies to permit the military to access and assume control of federal land along the US-Mexico border.

The memo, addressed Friday night to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, directs the military to “take a more direct role” in securing the border, according to the media reports.

It instructs the secretaries to grant the Defense Department both “use and jurisdiction” of specific federal lands to support military operations on those installations.

The memo specifies that the Defense Department should be given authority over areas such as the Roosevelt Reservation -- a 60-foot-wide strip of that follows the border through the US states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico -- for military uses, including building the border wall and installing surveillance and monitoring systems. It notes that Federal Indian Reservations are not included.

The directive declares that the border strip will be designated as a “military installation” under Pentagon control.

Military personnel would have the authority to intercept anyone entering the area but would not be permitted to carry out immigration arrests. Instead, they could call in Border Patrol agents to detain migrants, according to a military official, the New York Times reported.

The White House and the Department of Defense did not respond to questions on the matter.