Can the United States Be a Sovereign Nation Without Borders?

My VIPs for this week highlight the U.S. military personnel being deployed to the United States-Mexico border to patrol the Roosevelt Reservation. This reservation is a 60-foot-wide strip of federal land that spans the border in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and the deployment “is a necessary step to defend American sovereignty,” according to Brian Lonergan at The Blaze. 

A White House memorandum issued April 11 authorizes the military to take temporary control of the corridor, detain individuals attempting illegal entry, and support key security operations, including barrier construction and surveillance. With drug cartels, human traffickers, and other criminal threats exploiting the southern border, this deployment offers a direct, long-overdue response to a crisis the political class has allowed to fester for years. (Emphasis added.)

Established in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt to safeguard the border, the Roosevelt Reservation provides the ideal legal framework for President Trump’s latest deployment. By designating the strip as a “National Defense Area,” Trump has empowered the military to act decisively within a clearly defined legal perimeter.

Lonergan reminded his readers that former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), frustrated by the inaction of the Biden administration, “ordered shipping containers stacked along the reservation to block illegal crossings.” However, Ducey was succeeded by “open-borders Democrat Katie Hobbs, wasted no time removing them.”

Lonergan explained that with his memorandum, Trump directed “the Departments of Defense, Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security to transfer jurisdiction of the Roosevelt Reservation to the Pentagon.” With the land under the direction of the Pentagon, U.S. military troops are allowed to “detain border trespassers until Border Patrol can process them.”

This isn’t “militarizing” the homeland – it’s using federal authority to defend it….

The need for this action is clear. Even with reports of fewer illegal crossings, the southern border remains a pipeline for deadly drugs like fentanyl – which killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2023. Cartels continue to exploit weak enforcement, using remote corridors like the Roosevelt Reservation to move narcotics and human trafficking victims deeper into the country.

Critics rushed to label Trump’s deployment an overreach, but their objections don’t hold up. Some claim the move violates the Posse Comitatus Act, the 1878 law restricting military involvement in domestic law enforcement. One activist even called the strategy a “crazy” attempt to skirt the law by labeling illegal aliens as trespassers on military land. [Why not label them as trespassers? They are trespassing into the United States.]

That argument is nonsense. The Posse Comitatus Act allows exceptions during national emergencies, and Trump’s declaration of a border emergency provides that authority.

What’s more, the military role under the April 11 memorandum is narrow and lawful. It simply detains border trespassers on federal land until civilian authorities take over. This mirrors past deployments under both Republican and Democratic president. The Pentagon isn’t rounding up citizens or patrolling cities. It is securing a narrow federal corridor explicitly designated for border protection….

Cartels are opportunistic and fast-moving. They seize on any lapse in enforcement. The Roosevelt Reservation’s rugged terrain and rumored smuggling tunnels make it a prime target. A military presence deters those operations before they escalate.

Open-border activists argue that Border Patrol or local law enforcement should secure the border alone. But that ignores reality. Of the border’s 1,954 miles, more than 700 run through rugged, hard-to-patrol terrain. Civilian agencies are already overwhelmed.

The military brings what civilian authorities can’t: logistical power, surveillance technology, and manpower. This isn’t theoretical. We’ve seen it work before. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Operation Faithful Patriot provided vital support for wall construction in high-traffic zones – reducing illegal crossings where they were most severe….

Trump’s order rests on a simple truth: A nation without borders is not a nation at all….

I have one important question: What is being done to secure the United States-Canada border? Since the cartels “are opportunistic and fast-moving,” what are we doing to stop them from moving their operations to the northern border?