ALBUQUERQUE, NM — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico today voiced opposition to the military's expanded role at the southern border. Newly granted authorities now allow service members to detain civilians, conduct physical searches, implement crowd control measures, and assist with barrier installation within the so-called “New Mexico National Defense Area.”
The following can be attributed to Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico.
“As New Mexicans, we have deep concerns about the enhanced militarization of our borderlands communities. The expansion of military detention powers in the ‘New Mexico National Defense Area’—also known as the ‘border buffer zone’—represents a dangerous erosion of the constitutional principle that the military should not be policing civilians. This approach seems to be akin to Texas’s Operation Lone Star on steroids, threatening the longstanding relationships we've built with our neighboring communities in Mexico. By authorizing service members to detain, search, and conduct 'crowd control,' these new authorities undermine our state's values of dignity, respect, and community. We don't want militarized zones where border residents—including U.S. citizens—face potential prosecution simply for being in the wrong place. This isn't how we want to be in relation with our neighbors. This dangerous expansion of military authorities threatens both our civil liberties and the cultural fabric that makes our borderlands unique.”
