Trump Authorizes Military to Take Control of Federal Land Along Southern Border

The military will use the land to build border barriers and deploy detection and monitoring systems.

U.S. soldiers monitor a known border crossing point along the Rio Grande River in Brownsville, Texas, on Feb. 25, 2025. Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Sveen/U.S. Army

President Donald Trump on April 11 issued a memorandum authorizing the U.S. military to take control of a strip of federal land along the southern border to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

“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,” Trump wrote in the memo, addressed to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.