The Justice Department is bringing a new tool to the border fight, charging the first set of illegal immigrants with entering a restricted military zone in southern New Mexico.
Ryan Ellison, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, said Thursday that his office has filed 82 new cases against migrants who crossed illegally into the newly designated National Defense Area.
They can face up to a year in prison, which is double the penalty for illegal entry, the usual charge under immigration law, known as Title 8. The new charges are being brought under Title 50, which governs defense matters.
The Trump administration declared the new defense area specifically to stiffen border penalties. Mr. Ellison said it will help authorities gain “100% operational control” of the border.
“Trespassers into the National Defense Area will be federally prosecuted — no exceptions,” he said.
Signs have been posted in English and Spanish announcing the new restricted area, prosecutors say in court documents filed in some of the cases.
The Pentagon has also deployed more troops to the border region and given them more flexibility to assist the Border Patrol, though officials say military personnel are still not authorized to engage in actual law enforcement against border crossers.
The Defense Department has, however, been used to carry out some controversial deportations, taking the heat off Homeland Security.
Using the defense designation is the latest in a string of innovative new twists to existing laws.
President Trump has also sought to repurpose the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law aimed at adversary nations, so it can be used against migrant-heavy criminal gangs such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua or El Salvador’s MS-13.
That effort has met with stiff resistance in the courts.
For the defense area, Mr. Trump is transferring control of a narrow strip of border land from other federal agencies to the Defense Department. The transfers are coming in different geographic phases, with a strip in New Mexico being the first.
Legal experts said it was one way to get around the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts how much of a role the military can play in domestic law enforcement operations.
It may also turn out to be easier to build the border wall in the newly declared area.
