Mexico Metropolis, Mexico – Mexico began mobilizing Nationwide Guard troops to the U.S. border on Tuesday, following a short standoff between President Claudia Sheinbaum and U.S. President Donald Trump wherein the latter threatened tariffs if Mexico didn’t decide to stemming the circulation of migrants and medicines into the U.S.
The “northern border operation” is a part of an settlement reached between the 2 leaders on Monday which might put a brief halt on tariffs in alternate for Mexico sending 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops to the border to fight irregular migration and drug smuggling – notably fentanyl.
On Tuesday, President Sheinbaum stated the troop actions have been a strategic “reorientation of the forces” to frame states in northern Mexico, and wouldn’t impede safety in different components of Mexico.
She claimed that a number of the troops redirected to the northern border would come from areas of the nation going through decrease safety threats. “In different phrases, she stated at her morning briefing, “it’s a deployment that doesn’t depart the remainder of the nation with out safety.”
The biggest deployment of troops was reportedly to Baja California on Mexico’s northwest border with California the place 3,010 troops have been redirected. Chihuahua, on the border with Texas and New Mexico, reportedly acquired 2,620 guardsmen, and Sonora, which principally borders Arizona, acquired 1,987.
In accordance with the U.S. Border and Customs Safety, most undocumented immigrants enter by the U.S.’s southwestern border, with 2,135,005 encounters with asylum seekers reported in 2024. The cities of San Diego, Tucson, and El Paso led within the variety of irregular crossings by asylum seekers.
With the navy reinforcement of the border, Sheinbaum continues to uphold her predecessor’s method to appease Mexico’s largest buying and selling companion, using armed forces to discourage migratory flows headed north.
Through the administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican authorities used its navy to include immigration below the direct instruction of Trump throughout his first time period.
López Obrador used more troops to detain immigrants than to deal with nationwide safety considerations reminiscent of gas smuggling, often known as “huachicoleo” in Mexico.
The ensuing violence and human rights violations from this apply stick with it below Sheinbaum as 10 migrants have been murdered by her troopers within the first month of her administration.
