By Leah Romero, Source NM
Posted April 17, 2025
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-New Mexico) on Monday called militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border “misguided and wasteful,” following President Donald Trump’s direction late last week authorizing a military buffer zone stretching from California to New Mexico.
Creating that zone would mean migrants crossing the border into the U.S. would be trespassing on a military base and could then be held by military personnel and transferred into the custody of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However, members of the military having direct contact with migrants could be a violation of federal law.
“Deploying military assets to the border, during a record time of low crossing numbers, is a misguided and wasteful use of military resources and taxpayer dollars,” Vasquez, who represents border towns in New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district, told Source NM in a written statement. “As a lifelong border resident who has spent years working with border stakeholders, I can tell you that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work—and in some places, including parts of New Mexico’s Bootheel, this kind of made-for-TV stunt does little to nothing to solve our nation’s broken immigration system.”
The strip of land Trump directed the military to occupy is known as the Roosevelt Reservation and stretches from the southwestern edge of California through southern Arizona and ends at New Mexico’s border with Mexico and Texas, near El Paso. The zone also stretches 60 feet north of the border.
Vasquez told Source that investments in border security should be “strategic” and beneficial to border communities, the economy and the country as a whole.
“Militarizing the Roosevelt Reservation won’t solve the humanitarian crisis or improve public safety, it will take warfighters away from real national security threats like Russia and China,” Vasquez wrote.
Vasquez was among 48 members of Congress who last week signed onto a letter by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) calling for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reinstate several immigration oversight offices that were closed in late March. The offices include the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman; the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; and the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, all of which are required by Congress and advocate for the humane treatment of migrants in federal custody.
“The closure of these offices raises serious questions about DHS’s transparency and compliance with the law,” the letter states. “This will have impacts far beyond detention: it will cut off avenues for the public to file complaints about DHS policies and practices from airport screenings to ICE raids against schools, hospitals, and religious centers.”
In a statement last week, Vasquez called the closure of the oversight offices; potential violations of due process against people in custody; and unsanitary detention conditions “un-American.”
Leah Romero is a Las Cruces-based reporter placed with Source New Mexico through the New Mexico Local News Fellowship. This article is republished from Source New Mexicounder a Creative Commons license. Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
