Legal clash over military trespassing at New Mexico border heats up

Yahoo

5 days ago

May 29—An Uzbekistan national is at the center of an expanding legal battle over whether migrants illegally entering from Mexico can also be convicted of trespassing on New Mexico's new military border zone.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico focused on the case of Dishoda Rozlkova in appealing the dismissal of the misdemeanor military trespass charges filed against her and hundreds of other defendants earlier this month. The issue now goes to a U.S. district judge for consideration.
The U.S. Border Patrol encountered Rozlkova in Doña Ana County on May 4, about 7 miles east of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, court records show. Court records reveal little else about her except that she speaks Uzbek. That meant she couldn't proceed in English or Spanish when she appeared in court May 8 in Las Cruces on charges of illegal entry, violating security regulations and entering military property.
While maintaining the illegal entry charge, Gregory Wormuth, the state's chief U.S. magistrate judge, ruled May 19 that the government lacked probable cause to charge Rozlkova with knowing she was entering the restricted 60-foot-wide strip adjacent to the international border while she unlawfully entered the U.S.
The area, which stretches an estimated 180 miles, became military property in mid-April after President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Department of Defense to incorporate it, as the New Mexico National Defense Area, into the U.S. Army Fort Huachuca installation based in Arizona. The White House wanted the military to take a more direct role in securing the border, the appeal states.
But the action effectively increased the potential punishment for those charged with the misdemeanor of illegal entry into the U.S. The added offenses carry up to 18 months in prison combined. Often times, misdemeanor illegal entry results in brief jail time awaiting resolution of the case, followed by deportation.
Rozlkova "argues that she did not violate these laws because she was not aware of the (national defense zone's) reassignment to the Department of Defense or the area's resulting status. That claim should have been rejected," states the appeal.
"Virtually all aliens who enter the District of New Mexico from Mexico through an area that is not a designated port of entry — and thereby enter the ... restricted military area without authorization — are not 'engaged in apparently innocent conduct' but are instead aware of the unlawfulness of that conduct," the appeal states.
Government prosecutors say Wormuth erred in requiring an "additional element of knowledge that the defendant has entered the NMNDA (defense zone)."
Federal signs warning of the restricted military area reportedly have been posted in Spanish and English about every 100 yards in the zone, but some defense attorneys have contended their clients never saw the signs, couldn't read them, or spoke a different dialect or language and weren't aware they were trespassing.
Rozlkova's attorney couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, but Rozlkova is believed to be in federal custody awaiting a translator.
U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison is asking the district court to overrule Wormuth's order and reinstate the dismissed charges. To date, nearly 700 people have been charged with the military trespass-related misdemeanor charges, along with illegal entry.