The new zone, which is part of the Fort Bliss military base, extends about 90 kilometers to the east to Fort Hancock. In the official announcement, the Northern Command of the United States explained that this move aims to increase the “operational range and effectiveness in preventing illegal activity” on the border.
The daily Texas Tribune points out that This action takes place after the first appointment of a similar belt in Nowy Mexico as a military zone, where over 25 immigrants were accused of violating safety regulationsregardless of the allegations of illegal entry to the United States.
Legal experts emphasize that although the act of the so -called Posse Comitatus generally prohibits the army to enforce civil law, “the doctrine of the military goal” is used to justify the involvement of the armed forces in protecting the border without the explicit consent of the Congress.
One of the experts, George Corn, suggests that such use of the army strengthens the narrative about “invasion”, despite the fact that the number of people crossing the border “systematically decreases”.
Data Department of the National Security Department confirms this trend. In March, the Border Guard in the EL PASO sector revealed a total of 1627 cases of illegal crossing of the border, which is a decrease of 87 percent. compared to August 2024.
Defenders of immigrant rights, including Aimée Santillán from the Hope Border Institute, express “deep concern” progressive “militarization of the border.” They claim that it criminalizes asylum applicants and may negatively affect humanitarian aid, especially in the context of the growing number of migrants' deaths in the El Paso sector.
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The statistics of the American Humanitarian Organization “No More Deaths”, whose mission is to prevent the death of migrants on the border, show that in 2024 at least 176 migrants were killed in this sector, which is a dramatic increase compared to only one documented death in 2014.
