Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is sending 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in exchange for a one-month delay of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on her country.
Human rights groups have said that increasing military presence at the border can put migrants at risk.
There are already thousands of Mexican troops along the border with the United States as well as along Mexico’s southern border. That includes troops from the Mexican National Guard, the unit from which Sheinbaum plans to send the upcoming 10,000.
Stephanie Brewer, with the human rights advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America, said increasing ranks at the border doesn’t amount to a significant shift in policy. But further militarizing the border can put migrants in danger.
“Both the [Mexican] National Guard and Army troops have been involved in several cases over the past years of excessive use of force,” Brewer said.
In a high-profile incident last fall, Mexican soldiers killed six migrants in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, including children. In another incident last fall, Mexico’s National Guard fatally shot two Colombian migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Attempts to reach Mexico’s National Guard for comment were unsuccessful.
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The agreement was signed by U.S. Army Secretary Doug Driscoll on a visit to Mexico. -
The uptick comes after some tourists cancelled their spring break reservations after an outbreak of violence elsewhere in Mexico in February. -
Andrés Manuel López Beltrán says the revocation of his U.S. visa was politically motivated. -
The project to clean up sediment and soil in the Rio Sonora comes more than a decade after what Mexico considers the worst environmental mining disaster in its history. Some say the government and Grupo México could have done more and demand transparency. -
As officials turn to native trees to deal with urban heat, Sonora is hoping to create a "green lung" in the state capital.
