Mexico deploys the primary of 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops to US border after Trump’s tariff menace

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — A line of Mexican Nationwide Guard and Military vans rumbled alongside the border separating Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, among the many first of 10,000 troops Mexico has despatched to its northern frontier following tariff threats by President Donald Trump.

Masked and armed Nationwide Guard members picked via brush working alongside the border barrier on the outskirts of Ciudad Juárez, pulling out makeshift ladders and ropes tucked away within the trenches, and pulling them onto vans. Patrols have been additionally seen on different elements of the border close to Tijuana.

It comes after a turbulent week alongside the border after Trump introduced he would delay imposing crippling tariffs on Mexico for a minimum of a month. In trade, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised she would ship the nation’s Nationwide Guard to bolster the border and crack down on fentanyl smuggling.

Trump has declared an emergency on the border regardless of migration ranges and fentanyl overdoses considerably dipping over the previous yr. The U.S. mentioned it might, in flip, do extra to cease American weapons from being trafficked into Mexico to gas cartel violence, which has rippled to different elements of the nation as prison teams struggle to regulate the profitable migrant smuggling business.

On Tuesday, the primary of these forces arrived in border cities, climbing out of presidency planes. Guard members within the Wednesday patrol confirmed that they have been a part of the brand new power.

“There can be everlasting surveillance on the border,” José Luis Santos Iza, one of many Nationwide Guard leaders heading off the deployment within the metropolis, advised media upon the arrival of the primary set of troopers. “This operation is primarily to forestall drug trafficking from Mexico to the USA, primarily fentanyl.”

A minimum of 1,650 troops have been anticipated to be despatched to Ciudad Juárez, in keeping with authorities figures, making it one of many greatest receivers of border reinforcements within the nation, second solely to Tijuana, the place 1,949 are slated to be despatched.

Throughout U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s journey via Latin America – the place migration was on the prime of the agenda – the highest American diplomat thanked the Mexican authorities for the forces, in keeping with a press release by the Mexican authorities.

The negotiation by Sheinbaum was considered by observers as a little bit of shrewd political maneuvering by the newly elected Mexican chief. Many had beforehand solid doubt that she’d be capable of navigate Trump’s presidency as successfully as her predecessor and ally, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.