Mexico | 8,700 troops deployed along the northern border

Defence Redefined

23/03/2021

The Mexican government has deployed more than 8,700 troops along its northern border to prevent illegal immigration to the United States as crossings increase rapidly, the Defence Minister said Monday.

Soldiers and members of the National Guard have been deployed at 347 checkpoints along roads known to be crossed by immigrants, Mexican Defence Minister Luis Crescencio Sandoval said. Due to the increase in immigration flows, mainly from the countries of the selected northern triangle of Central America (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador), the Mexican government announced that it will exercise stricter controls.

Land borders are also closed to all non-essential travel to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Under pressure from former US President Donald Trump, Mexico has already deployed troops along the border to prevent immigrants from crossing illegally since June 2019.

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Thousands of immigrants flocked to the two countries’ borders after Democratic President Joe Biden won the presidential election, as the new president promised to pursue a more “humane” immigration policy. Most are trying to flee the misery, endemic violence and impact of the two catastrophic cyclones that struck Central America last year.

US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mallorca, acknowledged that a large increase in the number of refugees and immigrants is expected and that immigration flows in the near future may turn out to be the largest in the last twenty years. Just over 14,000 unaccompanied refugee and immigrant minors are currently being held by the US authorities, according to officials.

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Source: CNA