A federal judge in New Mexico has dismissed the charges against dozens of illegal immigrants who were accused of violating security regulations by trespassing on a military zone along the U.S.–Mexico border, according to court documents filed this week.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory Wormuth ruled that the federal government had failed to demonstrate that the illegal immigrants knew they were entering the restricted New Mexico National Defense Area (NMNDA).
According to court filings dated May 14 and 15, the government argued that it had placed signs in both English and Spanish to declare that the area is a military zone and that any unauthorized entry is prohibited.
But Wormuth stated that this was insufficient to prove that the illegal immigrants knew they were violating security regulations when they entered the areas, as the defendants may have missed the signs.
“As the United States concedes, the NMNDA spans over 180 miles of ‘often difficult and mountainous terrain,'” the judge stated.
“The mere fact that some ‘signs’ were posted in the NMNDA provides no basis on which to conclude that the defendant could have seen, let alone did see, the signs.”
Assistant Federal Public Defender Amanda Skinner said that Wormuth dismissed the trespassing charges against all illegal immigrants who made initial court appearances on May 15. They still face charges for crossing the border illegally.
The Epoch Times sought comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, which filed the charges against the illegal immigrants last month, but did not hear back by publication time.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico began charging illegal immigrants with violating security regulations for crossing into the restricted military zone on April 28, on top of illegal border crossing charges. At least 339 people have been charged for entering the military zone as of May 9, according to the attorney’s office.
The military zone includes the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide corridor owned by the federal government running along the border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The Interior Department transferred control of nearly 110,000 acres of federal land along the border to the U.S. Army on April 15, granting the military control of the border zone for three years.
The U.S. Northern Command announced on May 1 a second military zone dubbed the Texas National Defense Area, a 63-mile stretch that runs east from the Texas–New Mexico state line in El Paso.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has previously warned that any unauthorized attempt to enter the national defense areas would lead to an arrest.
“Any illegal attempting to enter that zone is entering a military base—a federal, protected area,” Hegseth said in a video message on April 25.
“You will be detained. You will be interdicted by U.S. troops and Border Patrol working together.”
Hegseth said that this marked only the first phase, as the Defense Department plans to expand military zones along the U.S. border to further strengthen border security.
“If you have attempted to evade, that’s evading law enforcement, just like you would any other military base. You add up the charges of what you can be charged with misdemeanors and felonies, you can be looking at up to 10 years in prison when prosecuted,” he said.
President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on April 11 authorizing the military to take control of the land to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
“Our southern border is under attack from a variety of threats,” Trump wrote in the April 11 memo. “The complexity of the current situation requires that our military take a more direct role in securing our southern border than in the recent past.”
