https://www.usatoday.com/story...se-area/83653670007/



Hunters wonder 'Am I going to get shot?' as US military takes over the border

A US senator is asking defense department whether Americans can be arrested on the range.

USA TODAY

Ray Trejo won a coveted permit to hunt deer along New Mexico's southern border this year, but with the U.S. Army moving in, he's worried.

"If I’m hunting down there and wearing camo and I have a rifle strapped to my back, am I going to get shot?" said Trejo, an elected commissioner in Luna County, at the U.S.-Mexico border. "Hunting season is quickly approaching, and we need to know where the boundaries are."

The Department of Defense has taken over an area along the border seven times the size of Manhattan, after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to an "invasion" of migrants. The transfer converts the land for at least three years into a de facto military installation – allowing federal authorities to charge migrants, and perhaps others, with illegal trespass on a military base.


But the new ownership has some locals worried, particularly those who hunt and hike on a landscape that is as fragile as it is vast. Will U.S. citizens be arrested if they enter the area, unwittingly? Will soldiers honor their right to hunt? Will the Department of Defense take care of the land and wildlife?


U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, sent a letter May 14 to Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth asking for answers to such questions.

"These landscapes are not only biologically diverse but also culturally significant, and they deserve thoughtful stewardship and clear communication when federal land designations shift or change in use," Heinrich wrote.

"Will hunting continue to be allowed within the (National Defense Area), and if so, under what additional regulations or condition?" he asked. "Are other recreational uses, including hiking, camping, and off-road vehicle use, still allowed within the NDA?"

The DOD didn't respond to questions posed by USA TODAY regarding the future of hunting and hiking access.

Hunting is allowed on some existing military reservations, according to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. Hunters "must obtain permission and conditions of access directly from the military reservation," according to the website, which doesn't name the new military installation specifically.


Brandon Wynn, a retired Albuquerque businessman and advocate for public land and hunting access, has hunted on military reservations before in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, he said; the permitting process is complicated. But this new military installation is different.

"With this thing, there is no process for me even get permission that I’m aware of," he said. "It really bothers me. This means I can’t go into there."

The border region

The region, especially in New Mexico's rugged Bootheel, is framed by open sky and cut through by rocky mountain ranges. Hunters and hikers can find themselves hours from assistance or cell service. It's an area that historically was trafficked by drug smugglers and migrants seeking to enter the country illegally.

The southern end of the Continental Divide Trail – the longest of the country's National Scenic Trails, running 3,100 miles from Mexico to Canada – now lies within the area controlled by the Army.

A day after Heinrich sent the letter, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission, which manages the Rio Grande, rescinded bird-hunting access along a 63-mile strip of land in Texas, saying in a news release that it "no longer administers the land." The rural area east of El Paso, Texas, was a dove- and quail-hunting region.

The U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission rescinded access to hunting in a new National Defense Area.
The land transfer from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Defense includes 109,651 acres in New Mexico, in Doña Ana, Luna and Hidalgo counties at the border, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

It also includes another 2,000 acres of Texas borderland, according to a Department of Defense figure cited by El Paso Matters, a local journalism nonprofit.

New Mexico's southern border is home to some two dozen endangered and protected wildlife species, native to that area and nowhere else, said Garrett VeneKlasen, northern conservation director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

Some locals are happy about the military's arrival.

Ranchers are also stakeholders and use land now under military jurisdiction to graze cattle ‒ or they did before an enduring drought made ranching unfeasible.

In southern New Mexico, "most ranchers are supporters of Trump’s actions," said rancher Stephen Wilmeth, who leases federal land in Doña Ana County. "Finally there is some relief."

'I'm worried about my friends'

Like Trejo, VeneKlasen pulled a hunting tag this year at the southern border, where he plans to hunt Coues deer in the fall. The deer is a white-tailed species found only in the desert Southwest.

"For a big, white redneck-looking guy like me, I’m sure there are going to be restrictions on what I can and cannot do," he said, adding he'd like to know what the rules are are in advance.

"But I’m worried about my friends," he said. "Can you imagine having camo and a gun in that country, with an agency that has been let off the leash and the potential for people with brown skin tones to be shot and killed? That terrifies me."


The newly minted military zone doesn't appear yet on the maps Trejo uses when he's out hunting, he said.

"When I get a hunting tag I am doing backflips in my office because it’s a real privilege to hunt," said Trejo, who also serves as southern outreach coordinator for the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

"Hunting has been important to me my whole life," he said. "It’s a traditional thing. We got out on the landscape and hunted. It brought families together and put food on the table. I’m a little alarmed at the possibility of not being able to continue doing this, for my children and grandchildren as well."

I would say if you don't shoot at military troops.

they well not shoot you

"Ray Trejo won a coveted permit to hunt deer along New Mexico's southern border this year, but with the U.S. Army moving in, he's worried.

"If I’m hunting down there and wearing camo and I have a rifle strapped to my back, am I going to get shot?" said Trejo, an elected commissioner in Luna County, at the U.S.-Mexico border. "Hunting season is quickly approaching, and we need to know where the boundaries are.""

Ray,

You don't need camo to hunt deer.

Over the years during hunts in both South Texas and West Texas, I've seen illegals crossing into the US.

I've never seen an illegal dressed in camo,... or carrying a rifle.

the big giant fence should be a clue.

If you are uncomfortable, don't use the tag. Hunt somewhere else.

quote:

Originally posted by Texas Blue Devil:
Over the years during hunts in both South Texas and West Texas, I've seen illegals crossing into the US.

I've never seen an illegal dressed in camo,... or carrying a rifle.

Have some friends that guide in South Texas and got into a shootout with the cartels. They weren't dressed in camo either! :O

You don't have to worry about getting shot. Current word is that we (hunter, hikers, shooters, etc.) won't be allowed in this new militarized zone of nearly 110,000 acres (just in three NM counties) of formerly accessible public land. This is a three-year order, but you all know how "temporary" fedgov actions are anything but.

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico...order-military-zone/

Hunters and hikers warned to stay out of border military zone
By KOB
Updated: May 20, 2025 - 5:19 PM
Published: May 20, 2025 - 5:00 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico hunters and hikers may want to reconsider any trips they have planned near the southern border.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defense told USA Today that hunting and hiking in the new national defense area along the southern border is now banned.



KOB 4 reached out to the Department of Defense to verify that information and get further details. A spokesperson responded with a previous statement from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth which he made in April.

“This is Department of Defense property,” Hegseth said. “Any illegal [attempt] to enter that zone is entering a military base — a federally protected area. You will be detained. You will be interdicted by U.S. troops and border patrol working together.”

Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich sent a letter to the Department of Defense last week with several questions on how U.S. citizens would be impacted by the new national defense area.

Today, a spokesperson for Senator Heinrich told KOB 4 there has been no formal response to that letter. Senator Heinrich issued his own response to the USA Today report in a statement to KOB 4.

“To tell New Mexicans that they will now be arrested for hiking and hunting on the land they have forged their identities on is deeply insulting and un-American,” said Senator Heinrich. “These are places where families have returned year after year to hunt quail, teach their kids how to track Coues deer, and find peace and perspective in the stillness of the desert. These landscapes hold our stories, our traditions, and our sense of belonging. We cannot and will not let this stand.”

The Trump administration transferred oversight of a strip of land along the U.S.-Mexico border last month to the military, allowing federal prosecutors to charge migrants with trespassing on military land.

A federal judge in Las Cruces dismissed dozens of military trespassing charges last week ruling there was little evidence that migrants saw any signs warning about the new national defense area.