From Defense to Detention: The U.S. Army’s Troubling New Role
A quiet but alarming shift is unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border: the Department of Defense is assuming control over federal land in a 60-foot-wide corridor known as the Roosevelt Reservation. This buffer zone, which stretches from New Mexico to California, is being militarized under a new directive from the Trump administration—potentially turning Army troops into de facto immigration enforcers in direct conflict with long-standing U.S. law.
This move, if fully realized, would give the U.S. Army control of the Roosevelt Reservation and transform the corridor into a military installation. Under that designation, troops could detain “trespassers”—including migrants—without violating the Posse Comitatus Act, the federal law that restricts military involvement in civilian law enforcement.
This is more than a legal loophole. It’s a dangerous precedent.
The Department of Defense has already begun a 45-day test of this policy in New Mexico, near Fort Huachuca, Arizona. During this time, additional fencing is going up, warning signs are being posted, and the area is being patrolled by Army security. U.S. officials told the Associated Press that migrants detained by the Army will be handed over to local law enforcement.
Weaponizing the Border
Let’s be clear: this is not just about “base security.” This is a political move to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border under the guise of national defense, further blurring the line between military operations and civil law enforcement.
By treating federal borderlands as military bases, the administration is attempting to sidestep legal constraints and empower troops to enforce immigration law—something traditionally reserved for civilian agencies like Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Legal experts are already sounding alarms. Elizabeth Goitein of the Brennan Center for Justice points out that the so-called “military purpose doctrine” allows military action only when law enforcement is incidental—not the primary purpose. In this case, the order’s intent is explicitly about securing the border and detaining migrants, a fact that undermines any claim to a legitimate military objective.
A Slippery Slope Toward Authoritarianism
This development is deeply troubling from a democratic and human rights perspective. It sets the stage for an unprecedented expansion of military authority over U.S. soil and civilian populations—especially immigrants and asylum seekers.
At the Peace Economy Project, we believe that true national security is rooted in diplomacy, human dignity, and demilitarization—not in erecting fences, deploying troops, or treating desperate people as enemy combatants.
This aggressive policy not only violates the spirit of the law, it escalates fear and trauma in border communities, militarizes public land, and diverts military resources toward political theater instead of actual defense.
We urge our elected officials—and the public—to reject this militarization of the border. There is no military solution to migration. What we need are humane immigration policies, not tanks and troops.
Take Action:
- Call your members of Congress and demand oversight of this policy.
- Support grassroots organizations working to protect migrants’ rights.
- Join Peace Economy Project in calling for an end to militarized border policies and a return to human-centered diplomacy.
Because the more we militarize borders, the more we erode the values we claim to defend.
