The administration transferred narrow federal strips along the southern border into National Defense Areas under Department of Defense jurisdiction, allowing troops to detain illegal crossers and hand them to CBP for prosecution. Armored Strykers and helicopter units provide a visible deterrent, with reports of migrants turning back after sighting them. This is a concrete legal-operational shift that expands military roles on U.S. soil.
— Using land-designation changes to extend military authority over domestic immigration enforcement sets a precedent for civil-military boundaries and federal power that could migrate to other policy areas.
by Hannah Allam
2025.09.09
40% relevant
Both describe novel legal‑operational moves to expand federal immigration enforcement power—NDAs to extend military detention authority at the border, and 'material support' terrorism statutes to revoke asylum and deport—signaling a shift toward unconventional legal levers over immigration.
Tyler Cowen
2025.09.05
62% relevant
Both cases describe legal-operational moves that expand military roles in what are normally civilian enforcement domains: the prior idea via National Defense Areas on land, this article via an asserted shift to 'wartime rules' for maritime counterdrug operations ordered by President Trump.
Robert C. Thornett
2025.08.20
100% relevant
Creation of NDAs on the Roosevelt Reservation and new 170‑square‑mile (NM) and 63‑mile (TX) strips, plus deployment of Strykers and Black Hawk/Chinook helicopters.