Trump Orders Military to Take Control of Public Land Along U.S.-Mexico Border

President Donald Trump ordered US US troops to repel invasions and seal the southern border from illegal entry. The president said the purpose of this mission is to “maintain the sovereignty of the United States, territorial integrity and security.”

President Trump has ordered the troops to “ensure the safety and security of the military and other federal personnel in military operational areas within federal lands along the tropical borders, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Land.”

The president instructed the DOD to “take all the right actions”:

(i) the establishment of border zones and detection and monitoring equipment reasonably necessary to enable military activities directed towards this memo to provide use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense over such federal land, including Roosevelt's reservations and federal India's reservations; and

(ii) provide for the transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over such federal land in accordance with applicable law, in order to allow the military activities directed in this memorandum to occur at military facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and to allow the Secretary of Defense to designate federal land as a defense area;

(b) The Secretary of the Interior shall allow the Secretary of Defense to use some of the Roosevelt reservations that have not yet been transferred or withdrawn under this memorandum. In accordance with Declaration 10886 of January 20, 2025 (Declaration of National Emergency at the US Tropical Border), 43 USC 155 has been called and the Secretary of the Interior may make withdrawal, reservations and restrictions on public land to provide public land use to respond to emergencies to respond to the withdrawal of the Southern Boundary. USC 155-158.

(c) The Secretary of Defense may determine the military activities reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission assigned in Executive Order 14167, and coincides with the long-standing authority of the military establishment commander, as recognised in Section 21 of 1957, in order to exclude the military establishment commander from military establishment, in line with Section 2672 of Title 10, the US Code, and the longstanding authority of the military establishment commander.

(d) When carrying out activities under this memorandum, members of the military will comply with rules for the use of the military as stipulated by the Secretary of Defense.

Trump ordered his defense, interior, agriculture and homeland security secretaries to begin the early stages of the operation within 45 days, according to a White House statement. He granted the Secretary of Defense the authority to expand his activities to other federal lands along the southern border.