Pentagon Creates New 250-Mile Military Buffer Zone at Texas–Mexico Border

Trump has described it as a military mission to seal the southern border and repel illegal crossings.

Texas National Guard soldiers uncoil concertina wire near the U.S.–Mexico border fence in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images

The Department of Defense is establishing a new military buffer zone—known as a national defense area—along the southwestern border to curb illegal immigration.

On June 25, the U.S. Air Force announced that a 250-mile stretch of the border along the Rio Grande in Texas’s Cameron and Hidalgo counties will be designated an extension of Joint Base San Antonio.