The Department of Interior has transferred more land along the U.S.-Mexico border to the military — this time in California.
The Interior Department announced roughly 750 acres of public land along the California border. would be transferred to the Navy to form a military zone. It's the fourth so-called National Defense Area, or NDA, established since April.
The Department of Interior says it’s one of the “highest traffic regions for unlawful crossings” along the southern border — though the number of people being apprehended by Border Patrol agents anywhere along the border is the lowest it’s been in decades.
California is the third state where such a zone has been established along a section of the Roosevelt Reservation — a 60-foot stretch that runs the length of the border in New Mexico, California and Arizona.
Erick Meza — with the Sierra Club — says this latest NDA will begin near the Arizona line and extend to a protected area called the Otay Mountain Wilderness in San Diego County.
“Seems like we’re heading into the direction of the U.S.-Mexico border is going to be a fully military operated area,” Meza said.
The Trump administration announced plans to turn nearly a third of the Arizona-Sonora border into a military zone this summer, after the same was set up in New Mexico and Texas. People caught crossing through the zones can face additional charges for trespassing on military property. As the AP reports, hundreds have already been detained on those charges.
Meza says the full impact of the zones on recreationalists, environmental monitors, animal crossings or migrant is not yet clear.
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