Mexico has begun deploying a 10,000-person unit that it promised to send to the US and the border in response to President Donald Trump's tariff threats to crack down on border security.
The Associated Press reported that on Wednesday, troops of the Mexican National Guard and military forces arrived at the border separating El Paso, Texas.
According to the Mexican government via the AP, the two largest deployed sites are Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana.
Mexico agrees to deploy 10,000 troops at the US border in exchange for a suspension of tariffs
Mexico began deploying National Guard and Army soldiers on the border with the United States, following the 10,000 troops that they had promised to send to the border under a contract with President Donald Trump to avoid a trade war. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has agreed to deploy troops to the north border before Trump-approved import duties come into effect in response to drugs and illegal aliens flowing from Mexico to the United States.
“We need to protect Americans and it is my duty as president to ensure everyone is safe,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social Post on Saturday. “I made a promise in a campaign to stop illegal alien and drug floods from pouring across the border, and Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of it.”
Part of the deal Trump attacked with Shainbaum included his promise to fight American gun trafficking, burning cartel violence.
On February 5th, 2025, Mexican National Guard patrols along the Mexican US border in Ciudad Juarez. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
Trump suspends tariffs in Mexico after signing a contract with the president of Mexico
Mexican patrols worked along the border near Tijuana on Wednesday, the Associated Press said, and service members along the bushy suburbs of Chiudad Juarez also pushed makeshift ladders and ropes into the grooves. I could see the rope removed.
I have a ladder found by a member of the Mexican national security guard who I found on February 5, 2025 while patrol along the Mexican-US border in Ciudad Juarez. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
“There is permanent surveillance at the border,” National Guard leader Jose Luis Santos Isa told reporters when the first set of soldiers arrived. “This operation is primarily intended to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the US and primarily to fentanyl.”
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According to a Mexican statement, Secretary Marco Rubio, who is on a diplomatic trip to Latin America, thanked the Mexican government for sending his troops to the border.
At least 1,650 Mexican troops have been deployed to Ciudad Juárez and 1,949 have been deployed to Tijuana. (AP Photo/Martin Zetina)
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
