The magistrate ruled that the arrested migrants may not have been aware that they were crossing into military zones.
A US judge in southwestern New Mexico has dismissed trespass charges against dozens of migrants arrested in a recently created military zone under President Donald Trump.
The military zone is, so far, one of two that the Trump administration has created along the US-Mexico border to block undocumented migration to the border.
Entering the military zone can increase criminal penalties. As of 400 lawsuits have since been filed in Las Luces, New Mexico, alleging security violations and crimes, including trespassing on restricted military property.
However, continuing from late Wednesday until Thursday, US Magistrate Judge Gregory Warms began issuing fires at the request of Las Cruces’s federal public defense attorney’s office.
Worms ruled that the government could not demonstrate that migrants knew they were in military zones.
“The criminal charge cannot establish a cause that the accused may believe he knows he is in,” Warms wrote in an order dismissing the charge.
The ruling is the latest legal setback for the Trump administration, as it seeks to impose more severe restrictions and penalties on undocumented immigrants. But the widespread use of the president’s enforcement power has drawn the rage of civil liberty groups who argued that Trump was trampling on constitutional security measures.
Establishing a new military zone is part of Trump’s strategy to reduce the flow of movement to the US.
Generally, crimes of “inappropriate alien entry” include a fine or sentence of up to six months. But trespassing in military areas involves more sharp penalties than typical border crossings, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegses warns that sentences could be combined up to 10 years.
“You could be detained. You’ll be detained,” Hegses warned the immigrants. “You will be blocked by the US military and the border patrol that you work with.”
On April 18th, the first military zone, known as the “New Mexico Defense Region,” was announced. It covered about 274 kilometers (or 180 miles) of stretch along the border with Mexico and spread over land previously owned by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Hegseth said he hopes to set up more military zones along the border, and that a second military zone was announced near El Paso, Texas, in early May. The strip was about 101km or 63 miles.
“Let me be clear. If you cross into a defense area, you’ll be charged to the fullest extent of the law,” Heggs wrote in a social media post.
Hegseth previously said that the military will continue to expand such zones until it achieves “100% operational management” of the border.
Trump and his allies frequently compare undocumented immigrants with “aggressions,” and they used their justifications to invoke wartime laws like the Alien Enemy Act of 1798.
In a summary of the court representing the Trump administration, US lawyer Ryan Ellison argued that the new military zone is a key breakwater for national security. He also rejected the idea that innocent people might get caught up in those areas.
“The New Mexico Defense Region is a critical installation necessary to strengthen military authority to secure our borders and protect our nation,” Ellison said.
He noted that the government has created signs of “restricted areas” along the border. However, the New Mexico public defense attorney’s office argued that the government has not done enough to make it clear enough to migrants in areas that are in military zones.
In the US, public advocates pointed out that trespassing demanded that immigrants were aware of restrictions and acted “in opposition to that regulation for any kind of immoral or bad purpose.”
Despite firing this week, the migrants involved still face serious charges of illegally crossing the border.
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