McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Migrants who are apprehended from within a newly established military zone on the border in two South Texas counties will be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, the agency told Border Report on Monday.
Last week, the Air Force announced that 250 miles of borderlands in Hidalgo and Cameron counties, which were previously managed by the International Boundary and Water Commission, are now part of an extended military base.
The lands are now part of Joint Base San Antonio, a facility near 250 miles north of the border with Mexico.
Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez told Border Report that the military will have the authority to withhold those for trespassing on military property, but that they would turn them over to other federal authorities.
Border Patrol Agent and Spokeswoman Christina Smallwood said in a statement: “All 9 stations in the RGV Sector are equipped with processing facilities. RGV Sector also has a Centralized Processing Center.”
Cortez emphasized that the land transfer was from one federal agency to another, specifically to create the new National Defense Area along the Southwest border.
It was completed on Wednesday by the General Services Administration. Cortez says he was not informed prior to the land transfer.
But much of the land in Hidalgo and Cameron counties are privately owned.
In 2018 almost 300,000 parcels of land in Hidalgo County were privately owned, and 175,000 parcels of land in Cameron County were privately owned, according to a 2019 report by Texas Land Trends, of Texas A&M. That included over 5,600 parcels within a mile of the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County, and over 24,000 parcels within a mile of the river in Cameron County.
Anyone caught on these lands can be arrested and charged with trespassing – a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
This new military zone comes as the Trump administration wants to completely shut down the border to those trying to illegally cross into the country.
This area adds to the two other National Defense Areas that were established in April in West Texas from Hudspeth County to El Paso, and the entire New Mexico border to the Arizona line.
The military says it will put up signs indicating lands in the Rio Grande Valley that now ar part of a military base.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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