Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico –
Located on the border between Mexico and California, Tijuana is regularly ranked among the most dangerous cities in the world.
In 2024, it had the sixth highest murder rate in the world, with over 91 murders per 100,000 residentsaccording to Statista.
Published by the US Department of State Travel Advisory For Baja, MexicoAlifornia warned in September 2024 that “travelers should stay on major highways and avoid remote areas.”
“Trans-border criminal organizations are competing in border areas to establish Nalco trafficking and human smuggling routes,” the advisory warned, adding that “violent crime and gang activity are common.”
However, the city looks very different in February 2025 than in January.
This change is at least in part thanks to Operation Operación Frontera Norte, or the Northern Border tactics. The drastic operation was the result of a dict order from recently elected Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, which ordered 10,000 Mexican National Guard troops to the border at the request of President Donald Trump.
If Sinbaum did not take action to stop the flow of fentanyl and immigrants to the United States, Trump threatened to immigrate to Mexico with a 25% tariff. (Related: Left-wing media will go to full spin mode after Trump opens up caves to tariffs in Canada and Mexico)
Citizens soon noticed the influence of the Operación Frontera Norte. At many ports of entry, including a well-running point between Tijuana and San Diego, Mexican officials are currently searching for vehicles before arriving at US authorities at the border.
National security guards search for vehicles at checkpoints between Tijuana and San Diego. Security guards say these searches are new.
Before the recent crackdown, only CBP conducted a search for cars. Now Mexico searches all cars before reaching the border. @dailycaller pic.twitter.com/63umhh7rux
– rob (@robmcgravytrain) February 28, 2025
One Mexican citizen who works in California on Amazon every day said the upgraded scrutiny added an hour to his commute.
These searches by the Mexican National Guard are the first in more than 30 years when Mexico has been searching vehicles before their cars reach the border, the director of the Mexican National Guard for General Hector Jimenez Baez in Baja California told the daily caller.
Return from Mexican review footage. I wanted to share something that was worthy of attention.
For the first time in 36 years in the Army, Mexican National Guard General Hector Zimenez Baez shared that Mexico was checking vehicles before it reached the border. @dailycaller pic.twitter.com/acoz0nxbmq
– rob (@robmcgravytrain) March 3, 2025
The changes were evident not only in official border checkpoints, but in many locations at the border, without ports of entry or physical walls. One such place was high at the Nido de Las Aguilas Mountain Range.
An unresolved section of the mountainous border is a roughly 45-minute drive over steep rocky terrain from downtown Tijuana. Smugglers often run through a series of populated, compact villages and outdoor markets to ferry migrants across open gaps.
Part of the boundary wall of the Nido de las Aguillas Mountains in Baja, California. Mexico. 2/28/25. (Robert McGreevey/Daily Caller)
Part of the boundary wall of the Nido de las Aguillas Mountains in Baja, California. Mexico. 2/28/25. (Robert McGreevey/Daily Caller)
The Mexican National Guard told callers that US customs and border patrols arrested most of them on the other side, but about 120 people have previously crossed the unmanned border sector per day. Currently, following Operation Northern Border, the Mexican National Guard operates the location 24/7. No one has attempted an intersection since the operation began on February 5th, Mexican National Guard told callers.
It is located on the border between Mexico and California, above Mount Nido de las Aguillas, with a small section of the border without walls.
120 people were crossing here in a day. That number has been nearly zero since Trump's tariff threat. @dailycaller pic.twitter.com/jzve5uhimo
– rob (@robmcgravytrain) February 28, 2025
Another area where the intersection was previously popular was part of the border surrounded by Lakeside Sportsman Club, a California shooting range. A small portion of the intersection zone was covered with metal sheets and barbed wire, but there are many open border areas where immigrants can easily cross to California and walk just 10 minutes to the nearby highway, the National Guard told callers.
A demonstration of how easy it is to cross a border before Trump's executive order @dailycaller pic.twitter.com/m1zpvoqw6d
– rob (@robmcgravytrain) March 1, 2025
100 groups crossed at a time at the junction. The area is littered with abandoned clothes and shoes (high heels and sneakers) and it's hard to find as smugglers encourage immigrants to abandon them. Smugglers frequently instructed female immigrants to wear high heels while trekking to the southern border, and security guards told callers to prevent them from escaping from smugglers who often sexually abuse them.
A collection of discarded clothes and shoes on the border between Mexico and California. 3/1/25. (Robert McGreevy/Daily Caller).
The Mexican National Guard is listed in deep deserts 24/7, and like the location of the Nido de las Aguilas mountain range, no one has attempted to cross it since February 4th.
The most important step towards the continued success of an operation that could become a problem when Trump suspends Tuesday on Mexico's tariff implementation is the ongoing cooperation between Mexican authorities and American officials, General Baez told callers.
An underreported element of that cooperation is the flow of American weapons to Mexico.
Since October, Mexican authorities have seized 6,582 illegal weapons, with 70 percent of which seized 1 million cartridges from the United States, General Baez told callers. Baez said weapons are the primary source of power in the country's cartels, which are primarily responsible for cross-border drug trafficking.
“If they don't have weapons, they can't kill people, murders will decrease and we don't have a precarious situation,” Baez told the caller.
Whether cooperation will continue is currently in the air. Shanebaum is likely to announce a series of retaliatory tariffs in the US in response to Trump's Bloomberg It has been reported Tuesday.
However, the numbers show that reforms resulting from increased cooperation are already working. Trump announced a record 8,236 border border concerns by the US Customs and Border Patrol in February.
February was the lowest month in recorded history of encounters at the border. The world is listening to our message: Don't come to our country illegally. If so, we will find you, arrest you, and send you back.
Thank you to the President @RealdonaldTrump For your strong leadership… pic.twitter.com/m6omig32dm
– Secretary Kristi Noem (@sec_noem) March 1, 2025
“We share values, share families, share work,” General Baez said of the cooperation between the US and Mexico.
“Of course there is a problem. Of course there is a problem,” he continued. Military, police, commerce in all camps,” the general concluded.
General Hector Zimenez Baez, head of the Mexican National Guard in Baja California, told daily callers, “I think President Trump is doing a great job.”
Baez praised the Trump administration's efforts to stop the flow of immigration and fentanyl at the border. pic.twitter.com/bg8pwkerts
– Daily Caller (@dailycaller) February 28, 2025
