The Interior Department announced Tuesday it will hand the Army control of nearly 110,000 acres of public lands along the nation’s border with Mexico, intensifying an unprecedented emergency action taken by President Donald Trump in his first term.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that his agency will cede “administrative jurisdiction” over those acres overseen by the Bureau of Land Management during a visit to New Mexico, asserting the move is necessary to speed construction of border barriers and increase federal patrols of the region.
“Securing our border and protecting our nation’s resources go hand in hand,” Burgum said in a news release.
The previous Trump administration likewise transferred administrative control of more than 600 acres of public lands in California, Arizona and New Mexico, which the Army returned to the Interior Department in 2021 during the Biden administration.
