The Department of Interior has transferred thousands of acres of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border to the Department of Defense for the next three years.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said jurisdiction of almost 110,000 acres of federal land in New Mexico will be transferred to the Department of the Army for the next three years.
Burgum says the transfer will support military coordination with the Border Patrol and open up more federal personnel, construction and infrastructure to "prevent unlawful entry, disrupt foreign terrorist threats to the U.S., and to curb illegal cross-border activities."
The Trump administration declared a state of emergency along the border in January, despite low numbers of migrant apprehensions back then that have continued to drop.
