EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it has secured 60 convictions against migrants who set foot in the new National Defense Area in El Paso.
The convictions came through guilty pleas entered in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The 60-foot-wide NDA running from the Texas-New Mexico state line through El Paso County near Fort Hancock, Texas, is considered an extension of Fort Bliss.
“Beginning in early May, additional criminal charges were filed against individuals who illegally entered or were found illegally in the United States and who had illegally entered the National Defense Area,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Tuesday. “As of May 19, 60 defendants had pleaded guilty and were convicted of these charges.”
The announcement comes days after local news media reported that a U.S. magistrate judge in El Paso dismissed 12 similar cases due to lack of probable cause and prosecutors withdrew three more cases after determining migrants were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol outside the NDA.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it will uphold federal statutes for unlawful intrusions into areas designated as National Defense Areas.
“These NDA-related charges are brought because the defendants violated of the federal law,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas. “These convictions area positive step in the judicial process of deterring illegal immigration, and I am very grateful to our El Paso Division staff and to our federal law enforcement and military partners for their diligent work in securing our borders.”
Several migrant advocacy and civil rights organizations oppose the military zones set up last month just north of the border wall in West Texas and in Southern New Mexico. Concerns include the possibility of human rights abuses not just of migrants, but also of U.S. citizens who may approached the area marked with signs in English and Spanish.
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