The U.S. Air Force is slated to manage a new militarized border zone in Texas along the southern border with Mexico, the service announced.
The stretch of land, known as a national defense area, spans 250 miles of the Rio Grande River through Hidalgo and Cameron counties, and will be administered as an extension of Joint Base San Antonio.
This NDA is the third established by the Defense Department along the southern border, with the first being sited in New Mexico on April 21 and the second in west Texas on May 1.
The secretary of the Air Force and the commander of U.S. Northern Command will collaborate closely to manage the area, according to a service release.
The establishment of the NDAs come in response to several executive orders by President Donald Trump to secure the southern border, as the administration aims to reduce not only illegal immigration but also clamp down on illegal narcotics trafficking by cartels throughout the area.
In response to heightened border security, narcotics traffickers have sought alternative smuggling routes to escape detection, including maritime routes that have prompted the dispatch of naval warships with Coast Guard LEDET teams aboard to the southern border area to patrol and perform interdictions.
This month, a law enforcement operation in Cameron County, Texas — near the location of the new NDA — resulted in the seizure of over 100 pounds of marijuana in an area described as a “hotspot” of drug trafficking under the influence of the Gulf Cartel.
In another recent interdiction, smugglers from Mexico were foiled in an attempt to drive bundles of illicit drug products across the Rio Grande River into South Texas.
The new NDA will be manned by personnel serving in Joint Task Force-Southern Border who will monitor the area, install barriers and signage, conduct patrols and stop any trespassers. The military’s duty will be to detain trespassers only temporarily and transfer them to the custody of law enforcement authorities.
A wide array of technology is being put into use at the southern border to establish control over swathes of vast and challenging terrain. To cut costs of constantly deploying aircraft, JTF-SB has been using 3-D printing to build drones for surveillance.
In South Texas, soldiers are using ground-based radar to detect suspicious movement in remote areas and provide warning to law enforcement of potentially harmful activities — including a sharp spike in drone use by narcotics traffickers. Additionally, Stryker vehicles have been fielded due to their maneuverability and camera systems.
Trespassers into military zones potentially face prosecution for two federal offenses — illegally entering the county and trespassing on U.S. military property.
As of May, illegal border crossings overall were reported to be in decline.
Zita Ballinger Fletcher previously served as editor of Military History Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and as the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in military history.
