Trump Is Quietly Using The U.S. Military In A Whole New Way
Source: HuffPost
Trump Is Quietly Using The U.S. Military In A Whole New Way
Since last month, Trump has authorized soldiers to detain “trespassers” on U.S. soil.
By Matt Shuham
May 2, 2025, 05:53 PM EDT
|Updated 13 hours ago
President Donald Trump is using a bizarre legal loophole to allow the military to perform domestic law enforcement activity on U.S. soil, an escalation of his already ultra-aggressive immigration and border security policies.
The Trump administration declared last month that chunks of land directly alongside the U.S.-Mexico border are now actually long, thin military installations — and that soldiers guarding those bases can detain and search trespassers before handing them over to law enforcement.
The military is usually barred from carrying out civil law enforcement work due to the Posse Comitatus Act, which was signed in 1878. But the law does have exceptions — including something known as the “military purpose doctrine,” which allows military activity on U.S. soil as long as it primarily furthers military function. The idea behind Trump’s new guidance is that soldiers are protecting military installations from trespassers, not technically enforcing immigration law or guarding the border.
Last month, the president signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to cede control of land along the border — known as the “Roosevelt Reservation,” as it was set aside by then-President Theodore Roosevelt — to the Defense Department, which has since started patrolling parts of the territory as if it were a military installation and detaining those who “trespass” on it.
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Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-border-roosevelt-reservation-national-defense-area_n_6815262ae4b0c553a15ccad7