Soldiers and Border Patrol agents conduct detection and monitoring operations from an observation post near Wellton, Arizona, on April 23, 2025. (Erica Esterly/U.S. Army)
AUSTIN, Texas — The Defense Department has received more land to establish a second military zone along the U.S. border with Mexico, this one in El Paso as an extension of Fort Bliss to allow troops to detain and search anyone found trespassing, U.S. Northern Command said Thursday.
The El Paso National Defense Area is the second territory created as part of the military becoming more active in efforts to deter migrants from crossing between legal ports of entry at the U.S. southern border. The Army last month took ownership of a roughly 170-mile-long strip of land across the southern edge of New Mexico that is about 60 feet wide.
More than two dozen people were charged Monday in federal court for trespassing on the New Mexico National Defense Area, which is part of Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Troops did not conduct those arrests, according to NORTHCOM, though court records do not state what agency did.
The El Paso defense area stretches about 53 miles east to the town of Fort Hancock, according to Maj. Geoffrey Carmichael, spokesman for the Joint Task Force – Southern Border.
It is considered part of Fort Bliss, which is in the west Texas city. Stryker armored combat vehicles deployed from Fort Carson, Colo., to work in the area will monitor the El Paso defense area using cameras at stationary points and on mobile patrols, Carmichael said.
Soldiers have also begun to hang signs on the land to warn people they are entering a military base, he said.
“The establishment of a second National Defense Area increases our operational reach and effectiveness in denying illegal activity along the southern border,” said Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORTHCOM commander. “This is the second area in which Joint Task Force – Southern Border service members who are already detecting and monitoring through stationary positions and mobile patrols nearby can now temporarily detain trespassers until they are transferred to an appropriate law enforcement entity.”
The land in New Mexico is part of the Roosevelt Reservation and was acquired by the Army from the Department of the Interior. The Army will hold ownership for three years, the service said.
Troops working in these zones can detain, search and offer medical aid to those found in it and then contact federal agents to collect them. Troops working outside the zones can only monitor and report potential illegal activity back to Customs and Border Protection.
Roughly 6,600 soldiers and Marines are working along the southwest border.
Military deployments to support Customs and Border Protection first began in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term and continued under former President Joe Biden with about 2,500 National Guard at the border at the end of his administration.
When Trump returned to office in January, he ordered active-duty forces to the mission. So far, more than 4,000 have deployed to the border.
Trump ordered the creation of the military border zones last month to get around laws that prohibit the military from conducting civilian law enforcement.
