US military establishes second enforcement zone on Mexico border as Trump ramps up immigration crackdown
President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign since taking office, increasing troops at the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.
The Trump administration in April said it designated a 170-square-mile (440 square km) strip along the base of New Mexico as a 'National Defence Area.'
Late on Thursday, the US military said it had established the 'Texas National Defence Area' in a 63-mile-long (101-km) strip running east from the Texas-New Mexico border in El Paso.
US Customs and Border Protection maintains jurisdiction over illegal border crossings in the area and troops would hand over migrants they detained to US Border Patrol or other civilian law enforcement.
So far, 82 migrants have been charged for crossing into the New Mexico military zone, according to the state's US Attorney's Office. US troops have not detained any of them and they were dealt with by CBP officials.
A drone view of the border between Mexico and the United States as U.S. President Donald Trump completes his first 100 days in office, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 28, 2025. — Reuters pic
The zone is intended to allow the Trump administration to use troops to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the US military to suppress events such as civil disorder.
Around 11,900 troops are currently on the border. The number of migrants caught crossing illegally in March fell to the lowest level recorded, according to government data.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, a Republican, on Thursday posted pictures of razor-wire barrier construction, saying 'Texas continues to work with the Trump Administration to stop illegal immigration.'
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has opposed what she calls a 'deportation buffer zone,' in a March social media post calling it 'a waste of resources and military personnel.'
The office of New Mexico US Senator Martin Heinrich on Friday said the buffer zone was several miles wide in places, raising concerns for civilians who might accidentally enter it.
'It's much further than just the 60-foot Roosevelt Reservation,' Heinrich spokeswoman Caty Payette told Source NM, referring to a strip of federal land running along the border. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
31 minutes ago
- The Star
US tariffs won't harm ties, says Rubio
KUALA LUMPUR: The slew of tariffs announced by the United States will not backfire, nor will it strain ties between Asean and the United States, says Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He said this is because tariffs are being applied on a global scale and not focused on a specific region or country. Rubio also said he is confident that some countries will be able to get lower tariff rates. 'There is a possibility that before Aug 1, we will reach an arrangement with certain countries that changes those numbers in a positive way. 'That takes time to work on so it can happen,' said Rubio when met at the sidelines of the 58th Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings. Rubio pointed out that for years, the United States had built up an enormous trade deficit with many countries and regions like Europe, Canada and Mexico. 'The trade deficit that the United States is running with other countries is just unsustainable. We have to address this and that's what the President is doing.' Rubio reiterated that the tariffs are to take effect on Aug 1 as 'markets need certainty'. On Monday, the United States announced it will impose a higher 25% tariff on all Malaysian products exported to the United States effective Aug 1. The figure is 1% point higher than the tariff previously announced in April. On another matter, Rubio said President Donald Trump is set to visit China and both sides are working to conclude a mutually agreeable date. He said the official invitation was extended by Chinese President Xi Jinping in an hour-long meeting that took place between him and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi yesterday. 'It is a visit he (Trump) wants to undertake. So, we are working on finding a right time for that. 'I'm sure it will happen, because both presidents want it to happen,' he said. This is the first in-person session between the two and speculation is rife that it could be a possible prelude to a presidential summit between Xi and Trump. Rubio described his meeting with Wang as positive, saying that the United States and China need to have regular engagements and communications. He also said the United States is interested in tackling scams in Asean as they are harming not just Americans but also residents in the region. 'We hope to have some deliverables on that and for a positive and productive (Asean) meeting in October,' he said.
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Seven flight logs, one lewd letter: Inside Trump's documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein
WASHINGTON, July 21 — Donald Trump's past ties with Jeffrey Epstein are under scrutiny after the US president slammed a Wall Street Journal report that he sent a lewd letter to the infamous sex offender as 'fake news.' AFP looks at the pair's relationship as the Trump administration also faces demands to release all government files on Epstein's alleged crimes and his death. Parties and private jets Trump, then a property mogul and self-styled playboy, appears to have known Epstein, a wealthy money manager, since the 1990s. They partied together in 1992 with NFL cheerleaders at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to footage from NBC News, which shows the pair talking and laughing. The same year, Epstein was Trump's only guest at a 'calendar girl' competition he hosted involving more than two dozen young women, The New York Times reported. In a display of their close ties, Trump flew on Epstein's private jet at least seven times during the 1990s, according to flight logs presented in court and cited by US media. He has denied this, and in 2024 said he was 'never on Epstein's plane.' In 1993, according to The New York Times, Trump allegedly groped swimsuit model Stacey Williams after Epstein introduced them at Trump Tower – a claim the president has refuted. Separate from his links to Epstein, Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by around 20 women. In 2023, he was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming American journalist E. Jean Carroll in a civil trial. An undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on August 9, 2021 by the United States District Couty for the Southern District of New York shows (left-to-right) Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell posing for a photo. Virginia Giuffre, who accused disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein and Britain's Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has taken her own life at her home in Australia, her family said on April 26, 2025. — US District Court Southern District of New York handout via AFP 'Terrific guy' Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's main accusers who died by suicide this year, said she was recruited into his alleged sex-trafficking network aged 17 while working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in 2000. Giuffre claimed she was approached there by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed in 2022 for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls. Trump seemed to be on good terms with Epstein during this time, praising him as a 'terrific guy' in a 2002 New York Magazine profile. 'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,' Trump said. In 2003, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump penned a letter for Epstein's 50th birthday featuring a drawing of a naked woman, with his signature 'Donald' mimicking pubic hair. His apparent message – Trump dismissed the letter as a 'fake thing' – read: 'Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.' A view of a building where Jeffrey Epstein used to live, in Manhattan on the Upper East Side in New York City, US, July 17, 2025. — Reuters pic 'I wasn't a fan' The pair reportedly had a rupture in 2004 as they competed to buy a waterfront property in Florida, which Trump eventually snagged. The two men were hardly seen together in public from that point. Trump would later say in 2019 that they had a 'falling out' and hadn't spoken in 15 years. Shortly after the property auction, police launched a probe that saw Epstein jailed in 2008 for 13 months for soliciting an underage prostitute. He was arrested again in 2019 after he was accused of trafficking girls as young as 14 and engaging in sexual acts with them. Trump, then serving his first term as president, sought to distance himself from his old friend. 'I wasn't a fan,' he told reporters when the charges were revealed. An image of US President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, along with the words 'President Trump: Release All the Epstein Files', is projected onto the US Department of Commerce headquarters in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025. — AFP pic In 2019, Epstein was found hanging dead in his prison cell awaiting trial. Authorities said he died by suicide. Since then, Trump has latched onto and fueled conspiracy theories that global elites including former president Bill Clinton were involved in Epstein's crimes or death. Those same theories now threaten to destabilise Trump's administration, despite his attempts to dismiss the saga as a 'hoax' created by political adversaries. — AFP
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Asia shares, yen weather Japan uncertainty as earnings loom
SYDNEY: Asian shares and the yen held their ground on Monday as Japanese elections proved bad for the government but no worse than already priced in, while Wall Street futures braced for earnings from the first of the tech giants. Investors were also hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of President Donald Trump's Aug 1 tariff deadline, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick still confident a deal could be reached with the European Union. There were reports Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were closer to arranging a meeting, though likely not until October at the earliest. In Japan, the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday, further weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as a tariff deadline looms. Ishiba expressed his intention to stay in the position, which along with a market holiday, limited the reaction and the yen was 0.4 per cent firmer at 148.29 to the dollar. "Ishiba will try to govern with support from some within the opposition, but this likely means a looser fiscal policy and is not good news for bond yields," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB. "History also suggests that domestic political uncertainty tends to keep the BOJ on the side-lines, so the prospect of rate hikes is now set to be delayed for a little bit longer." The Bank of Japan still has a bias to raise rates further but markets are pricing little chance of a move until the end of October. While the Nikkei was shut, futures traded up at 39,875 and just above the cash close of 39,819. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while South Korean stocks added 0.4 per cent. MEGA CAPS KICK OFF S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both edged up 0.1 per cent, and are already at record highs in anticipation of more solid earnings reports. A host of companies reporting this week include Alphabet and Tesla, along with IBM. Investors also expect upbeat news for defence groups RTX , Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Ramped up government spending across the globe has seen the S&P 500 aerospace and defence sector rise 30 per cent this year. In bond markets, US Treasury futures held steady having dipped late last week after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller repeated his call for a rate cut this month. Most of his colleagues, including Chair Jerome Powell, have argued a pause is warranted to judge the true inflationary impact of tariffs and markets imply almost no chance of a move in July. A September cut is put at 61 per cent, rising to 80 per cent for October. Powell's reticence on rates has drawn the ire of Trump who threatened to fire the Fed chief, before backing down. The spectre of a potential political appointee who would seek to ease policy sharply has investors on edge. The European Central Bank meets this week and is expected to hold its rates steady at 2.0 per cent following a string of cuts. "The press conference will likely keep highlighting uncertainty and need to wait for tariff negotiations to conclude before deciding the next step," said analysts at TD Securities in a note. "Similarly, its 'meeting-by-meeting' language would be retained in the release." The euro was unchanged at US$1.1630 in early trading, having dipped 0.5 per cent last week and away from its recent near-four-year top of US$1.1830. The dollar index was a fraction lower at 98.40. In commodity markets, gold was little changed at US$3,348 an ounce with all the recent action in platinum which last week hit its highest since August 2014. Oil prices were caught between the prospect of increased supply from OPEC+ and the risk European Union sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine could curb its exports. Brent edged up 0.1 per cent to US$69.36 a barrel, while US crude added 0.1 per cent to US$67.39 per barrel.
