President Donald Trump on Friday sent a presidential memorandum to Cabinet secretaries directing them to devise a plan to take jurisdiction over federal lands to combat illegal border crossings.
Alex Brandon/AP
There are already about 10,000 troops stationed along the border supporting U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and this move could expand the role the troops play at the border.
The directive, sent to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, will be first implemented on a “limited sector” of federal lands along the border, to be determined by Hegseth over the next 45 days.
The portions of border land occupied by the military might then expand “at any time,” the memorandum says.
Border crossings have already descended to low levels since Trump took office and defined ending illegal immigration as a top priority, but officials have told ABC News that efforts at the border will continue until there is “total operational control.”
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
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