Several hundred immigrants have been charged with unauthorized access to a newly designated militarized zone along the southern U.S. border in New Mexico and western Texas since the Department of Justice introduced the new approach in late April.
President Donald Trump's administration has transferred oversight of a strip of land along the U.S.-Mexico border to the military while authorizing U.S. troops to temporarily detain immigrants in the country illegally — though there's no record of troops exercising that authority as U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducts arrests. The designated national defense areas are overseen by U.S. Army commands out of Fort Bliss in the El Paso area in Texas and Fort Huachuca in Arizona.
