US troops have made their first detentions inside military areas set up on the US-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the US Army said.
The unprecedented military areas along 260 miles (418 km) of border in New Mexico and Texas were declared extensions of US Army bases by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing troops to temporarily detain migrants and other civilian trespassers.
Three “illegal aliens” were detained by troops in the New Mexico area near Santa Teresa on June 3, before being handed to US Border Patrol, Army spokesperson Major Geoffrey Carmichael said in an email.
“This marks the first time Department of Defense personnel have recorded a temporary detainment within either National Defense Area,” Carmichael said.
US presidents have long used active-duty and reservist troops on the international boundary in support roles to US Border Patrol such as surveillance and construction.
President Donald Trump took military use a step further by giving troops the right to hold trespassers they catch in the zones until civilian law enforcement assumes custody.
Federal troops can also search people and conduct crowd control measures within the areas, according to the Army.
Designation of the zones as military bases allowed troops to detain migrants without the need for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law lets a US president deploy federal troops domestically to suppress events like civil disorder.
Prosecution of dozens of migrants caught in the zones has faced setbacks in court after judges in New Mexico and Texas dismissed trespassing charges, and acquitted a Peruvian woman, ruling they did not know they were entering restricted areas.
The primary role of troops in the zones is to detect and track illegal border crossers, with around 390 such detections so far, the Army said.
News of the detentions inside military areas came as Trump deployed state-based National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests over immigration raids.