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Mexico says it has deployed 15,000 forces in the north to halt U.S.-bound migration





Alongside 6,500 members of the security forces sent to Mexico’s southern border area with Guatemala, where many migrants enter, a larger contingent was in the north, he said.

“In the northern part of the country we have a total deployment of 14,000, almost 15,000 units between the National Guard and the Army,” Sandoval told a regular news conference.

“If we left it completely in the hands of the National Institute of Migration it wouldn’t be possible,” he added. “That’s why we’re providing support, it’s a strategy being pursued on both borders.”

A new militarized police force formed from soldiers, marines and federal police, the National Guard is at the heart of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plan to restore order in a country convulsed by record levels of violence.


Former Mexican national security official Gustavo Mohar said Mexico’s security forces had not been used this way before, describing the development as “sad.”

Mohar blamed the change on Trump’s threats to impose tariffs. The National Guard should ideally not be implementing migration policy, he argued, while acknowledging that Mexican migration authorities were overwhelmed.


If that fails, Lopez Obrador’s government has said it will consider changing its laws to satisfy Trump’s demand that Mexico become a buffer zone to stop migrants entering the United States.

