February 11, 2026 at 12:55 AM
The US military is taking control of more Texas borderland
The Air Force has added about 190 miles of Rio Grande riverbank to the 250 it already oversees.
Two National Defense Areas now cover about 420 miles of the Rio Grande river. Defense One / Bradley Peniston / bergserg via Getty Nearly 200 more miles of the U.S. border with Mexico have been placed under Air Force supervision, enabling wider use of military force and heftier charges against people crossing illegally into the country.
But experts wonder why the step is being taken as crossings plummet and heightened charges are thrown out by judges.Last June, Pentagon leaders announced that they would take charge of land along the final 250 miles of the Rio Grande, which had been administered by State Department employees on the International Boundary and Water Commission. Designated National Defense Area 3, the land was placed under the control of Joint Base San Antonio, which is operated by the Air Force. As with similar zones established last year, the NDA designation effectively turned the land into a military base that can be patrolled by troops.