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On April 11, 2025, a national security presidential memorandum directed the Defense Department to accept jurisdiction of certain federal lands along the southern border from other agencies.
Source: Department of Defense, White House
Photos: Courtesy Department of Defense
NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM/NSPM-4
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBJECT: Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions
As the Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, the United States Constitution empowers me to direct the various elements of the executive branch to protect our homeland and ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the United States in the manner I deem most efficient and effective, consistent with applicable law. Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats. The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past. Through Executive Order 14167 of January 20, 2025 (Clarifying the Military’s Role in Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States), I assigned the Armed Forces of the United States the military missions of repelling the invasion and sealing the United States southern border from unlawful entry to maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States. This memorandum provides additional guidance on securing the southern border to the heads of certain executive departments.
Section 1. Policy. (a) to accomplish the military missions described in Executive Order 14167, and to ensure the safety and security of the military and other Federal personnel in areas of military operations within Federal lands along the southern border, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate actions:
(i) to provide for the use and jurisdiction by the Department of Defense over such Federal lands, including the Roosevelt Reservation and excluding Federal Indian Reservations, that are reasonably necessary to enable military activities directed in this memorandum, including border-barrier construction and emplacement of detection and monitoring equipment; and
(ii) to provide for transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over such Federal lands in accordance with applicable law to enable military activities directed in this memorandum to occur on a military installation under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and for the designation of such Federal lands as National Defense Areas by the Secretary of Defense.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior shall allow the Secretary of Defense to use those portions of the Roosevelt Reservation not yet transferred or withdrawn under this memorandum. In accordance with Proclamation 10886 of January 20, 2025 (Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border of the United States), 43 U.S.C. 155 is hereby invoked and the Secretary of the Interior may make withdrawals, reservations, and restrictions of public lands to provide for the utilization of public lands by the Department of Defense to address the emergency at the southern border, without regard to any limitation on withdrawals otherwise applicable under the terms of the Engle Act, 43 U.S.C. 155-158.
(c) The Secretary of Defense may determine those military activities that are reasonably necessary and appropriate to accomplish the mission assigned in Executive Order 14167 and that are necessary to protect and maintain the security of military installations, consistent with section 2672 of title 10, United States Code, and the longstanding authority of a military installation commander to exclude persons from a military installation, as recognized in section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 797) and 18 U.S.C. 1382.
(d) In carrying out activities under this memorandum, members of the Armed Forces will follow rules for the use of force prescribed by the Secretary of Defense.
Sec. 2. Phased Implementation. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Homeland Security will initially implement this memorandum on a limited sector of Federal lands designated by the Secretary of Defense. Within 45 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Defense shall assess this initial phase. At any time, the Secretary of Defense may extend activities under this memorandum to additional Federal lands along the southern border in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor, and other executive departments and agencies as appropriate.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority of the Secretary of Defense to authorize and request that State Governors order members of the National Guard under authority of title 32 of the United States Code to conduct Department of Defense activities, including as appropriate to support law enforcement activities under the responsibility of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security, if requested by such official;
(ii) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(iii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
Interagency Land Agreement Strengthens Military Border Mission
By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News
April 16, 2025
On April 11, 2025, a national security presidential memorandum directed the Defense Department to accept jurisdiction of certain federal lands along the southern border from other agencies.
“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” President Donald J. Trump said in the memorandum. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.”
The change directed in the president’s memorandum will enhance the ability of service members to conduct their mission at the border.
The Defense Department, Interior Department and Department of Homeland Security already use land along the southern border. Included in that is the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot strip of land lying parallel to the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. The memorandum notes that “Federal Indian reservations” are excluded.
It directs DOI and DHS to cede jurisdiction for portions of their land to DOD. That noncontiguous land, about 170 square miles, runs along the border between New Mexico and Mexico.
Once the Army accepts jurisdiction of that land, it will become part of a national defense area — a specified piece of federal land over which DOD maintains administrative authority and jurisdiction and is permitted to establish and enforce a controlled perimeter and access.
The area will be considered an extension of Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Service members stationed at the border and operating on that land will have greater authority to execute their mission. They will be governed by the same rules as when they are defending any other military installation, such as apprehending trespassers and passing them to appropriate civilian or federal law enforcement officials.
Under the new arrangement, military personnel will continue to work together with U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to establish and enforce a controlled perimeter and controlled access to the area as part of an effort to repel unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking and other cross-border criminal activities.
To deter unlawful entry, service members will construct and position temporary barriers, detect and monitor the use of routes across or adjacent to the area and apprehend individuals who breach the barriers. Service members will place signs and construct temporary barriers to visibly indicate the boundaries.
Military operations at the southern border fall under the jurisdiction of U.S. Northern Command, which remains ready to adjust its operations in response to the memorandum.
“U.S. Northern Command continues to plan and prepare to serve as the operational lead for the implementation of the national defense area,” said Marine Corps Col. Kelly Frushour, Northcom director of public affairs. “Forces responsible for securing the national defense area will conduct any necessary training to perform their assigned tasks effectively.”
Public Land Order No. 7963; National Defense Operating Area Withdrawal, Dona Ana, Luna, and Hidalgo Counties, NM
Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land Management
[NMNM106725808]
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Public land order.
SUMMARY:
This Order withdraws, subject to valid existing rights, approximately 109,651 acres of Federal lands from settlement, sale, location, and entry under the general land laws, including the United States mining laws, mineral leasing laws, and geothermal leasing laws, for a period of 3 years for use by the Department of the Army for border security purposes. This withdrawal also transfers administrative jurisdiction of the lands to the Department of the Army.
At Southern Border, Defense Secretary Visits Newly Created National Defense Area
By C. Todd Lopez
April 25, 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the newly created New Mexico National Defense Area today to meet with service members assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Border.
“This is Department of Defense property,” Hegseth said. “Any illegal to [attempt] enter that zone is entering a military base — a federally protected area. You will be detained. You will be interdicted by U.S. troops and border patrol working together.”
Hegseth held a sign in English and Spanish indicating the property’s protected status. The signs state that the area is under U.S. military jurisdiction and warn that trespassers will be detained.
“You’ve got signs like this one all across the border wall facing into Mexico — clear English, clear Spanish,” he said.
Millions of people crossed the U.S.-Mexico border over the past four years, Hegseth said. Since January, the department has stepped up efforts to curb illegal crossings.
Initial deployments earlier this year included 1,600 active-duty Marines and soldiers joining the 2,500 reservists who had already been mobilized.
In early March, the department sent a Stryker brigade combat team and a general support aviation battalion to the southwestern border to accelerate President Donald J. Trump’s directive to bolster military support in securing the border.
Those units were equipped with wheeled vehicles and aviation assets to support mobility and surveillance. In late March, service members assigned to JTF-SB were authorized to conduct patrols — a shift from the previously static role of detection and monitoring. Last week, the Defense Department assumed jurisdiction from the Department of the Interior over 109,651 acres of federal land along the U.S.-New Mexico border.
The area was officially designated the “New Mexico National Defense Area,” April 18, 2025, following a general order signed by the Secretary of the Army to make that NDA part of the existing Fort Huachuca, an Army installation in nearby Arizona. According to the DOI, the agreement for the land transfer is three years.
The transfer of jurisdiction and the creation of the NMNDA was directed by the president as a way to strengthen the authority of service members already participating in border control efforts as part of JTF-SB.
Troops have been working alongside Customs and Border Protection since January to seal the southern border. However, the kind of work they can do there has been limited by federal law. While service members could assist in identifying border crossers, for instance, only CBP personnel could apprehend them.
But now, federal troops participating in JTF-SB, and who are operating on the NMNDA, can temporarily detain trespassers until an appropriate law enforcement entity can assume custody.
Service members can now also conduct cursory searches of trespassers to ensure the safety of U.S. service members and DOD property, conduct crowd control measures as necessary, and provide emergency medical support to trespassers to prevent the loss of life, limb or eyesight.
“Through these enhanced authorities, U.S. Northern Command will ensure those who illegally trespass in the New Mexico National Defense Area are handed over to Customs and Border Protection or our other law enforcement partners,” said Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, Northcom commander. “Joint Task Force Southern Border will conduct enhanced detection and monitoring, which will include vehicle and foot patrols, rotary wing and fixed surveillance site operations.”
Getting control of the border was at the top of the president’s to-do list on the day he took office. Hours after his inauguration, he signed a document declaring a national emergency at the southern border and said America’s sovereignty was under attack.
“Our southern border is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans,” the president wrote.
In the same document, the president said the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. armed forces must seal the border.
Within days of that order, U.S. troops were already heading down south to carry out the president’s directives. Today, Northcom directed JTF-SB to carry out that mission alongside CBP.
“For too long, our southern border was poorly equipped and understaffed, and our warfighters were restricted from doing their jobs,” Hegseth said today via social media. “We will secure our southern border and have 100% operational control.”
