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DoomsdaysCW#Army control of #USMexicoBorder buffer zone may funnel migrants to 62-mile stretch of #TribalLand in #Arizona
Emma Paterson/Cronkite News
April 25, 2025
WASHINGTON – "Some Arizona border officials have welcomed President Donald Trump’s order for a military takeover at the U.S-Mexico border.
"But migrant advocates fear that by sealing hundreds of miles of border in the Southwest, the troops will effectively funnel migrants to far more dangerous crossing points. And #environmentalists warn of damage to habitats that support nearly two dozen #endangered species.
" 'Militarizing the border has historically only ramped up deaths,' said James Holeman, founder of Battalion Search and Rescue, a group of volunteers who hike through desolate regions of Arizona and New Mexico searching for remains of migrants who couldn’t survive the desert.
" 'You’re talking about vulnerable people that are making very deadly choices,' he said.
"On April 11, Trump ordered the military to take control of the #RooseveltReservation – a 60-foot wide strip of federal land along the border from the Pacific Ocean to New Mexico.
"Turning the border into a military base would get around the 1878 #PosseComitatus Act, which prohibits the military from engaging directly in civilian law enforcement. #Migrants would be subject to military arrest for trespassing within the federal zone.
"That zone and Trump’s order cover Arizona’s four border counties – Yuma, Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise – except for a 62 mile stretch of Pima County controlled by the #TohonoOOdhamNation.
"Holeman, among others, expects that gap to become an even bigger magnet for human trafficking.
"The tribe’s ancestral lands span the border, and roughly 2,000 of 34,000 members live on the Mexican side.
"Tribal leaders declined opportunities to discuss the situation.
"Even before the military build-up to the east and west, the reservation was a hot spot for illegal crossings. The tribe’s stretch of border is relatively flat. And it’s secured with vehicle barriers and large-gapped cattle fencing that don’t impede people, because the tribe refused to allow wall construction during Trump’s first term."
Army control of U.S.-Mexico border buffer zone may funnel migrants to 62-mile stretch of tribal land in Arizona
President Donald Trump’s order putting the Army in charge of a narrow buffer of federal land along the Southwest border will let troops detain people who cross illegally – a significant escalation in efforts to seal the border. But there’s a 62-mile gap in Arizona, tribal land with no wall that soldiers won’t patrol. Migrant advocates expect migrants and smugglers to flock to that region south of Tucson controlled by the Tohono O’Odham Nation.
