Trump Military To Seize Land In Three States For Migrant Ops

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Whiskey Pete Hegseth is about to command a strip of land that runs along the border of California, Arizona and New Mexico. It’s a 60-foot wide stretch of land known as the Roosevelt Reservation. But the disturbing implications are much bigger.

The New York Times explains:

The plan, set out in a White House memorandum, calls for transferring authority over the 60-foot-wide strip of federal border land known as the Roosevelt Reservation from other cabinet agencies to the Defense Department. Military forces patrolling that area could then temporarily detain migrants passing through for trespassing on a military reservation, said a U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.

The directive expands a military presence that has increased steadily along the southern border, even as crossings have already dropped precipitously during the Trump administration. The ordering of troops to the border has already put the military in politically charged territory, and, depending on the details of the effort, the plan could run afoul of laws that limit the use of regular federal troops for domestic law enforcement.

The directive says that the border strip will become a “military installation under the jurisdiction of” the Pentagon. Military members would be able to stop anyone crossing into the “military installation” but would not have the power to make immigration arrests, according to the military official. Border Patrol agents could then be summoned to arrest the migrants.

…

A White House spokesman did not respond to questions seeking clarity as to what U.S. forces operating in the strip of border land would be able to do. A Defense Department spokesman also did not respond to questions seeking clarity.

The Times noted that The Washington Post reported on plans for this military installation last month. The Post described it as “in effect” a transformation of the buffer zone “into an expansive satellite military installation.” The Post describes Whiskey Pete Hegseth as having “enthusiastically supported other efforts to employ the military at the southern border.”

No word yet on whether plans were made over Gmail or Signal.