Inside the “National Defense Areas”: A Podcast with Investigative Reporters Sonner Kehrt and David Roza

In January 2025, the Trump administration declared a national emergency at the southern border and directed the military to take control of large expanses of the border—including major cities like El Paso, McAllen, and Brownsville—and designate them as “National Defense Areas.” A recent Border Chronicle investigation titled  “A War Zone: Minus the War,” produced in collaboration with the nonprofit The War Horse, which serves military communities, examined the impact this military presence is having on border residents, the types of surveillance and hardware being rolled out in the national defense zones, and the impact the zones are having on migration at the border, including federal prosecutors attempting to charge migrants for trespassing.

For this discussion, Melissa del Bosque is joined by Sonner Kehrt, an investigative reporter with The War Horse, and David Roza, an independent journalist who covers the U.S. military. The reporters discuss their recent collaboration and catch listeners up on more recent military developments, including the Davis-Monthan Air Force base in Tucson hosting Space Force Guardians and Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Arizona, which is developing a new mission for U.S. Space Force and whose somewhat bizarre official song— yes, this is real— you can listen to here.