President Trump reached an agreement with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador earlier this month that Mexico would be increasing their efforts to curb the Central American migrant flow to the United States. The deal was made to avoid a Trump-proposed tariff of 5% against Mexico.
Since that time, Mexican officials have been deploying their newly formed National Guard, which is separate from their military, to enhance security at both the southern and northern borders of Mexico. The National Guard, a unit of 6,000, was formed as a result of the deal made with the U.S. to enhance border security.
A senior Mexican official told the Associated Press that just three weeks ago there 4,200 Central American migrants arriving daily at the border Mexico shared with the U.S. Since the arrival of the National Guard, that number has shrunk to 2,600. Wary that he was judging only a short amount of time, he felt cautiously optimistic that the new measures were making a difference.
One migrant, 65-year-old El Salvadorian Tomas Leyva, returned to Guatemala by raft after encountering the newly enhanced border security. He said, “Now the situation is more serious, more strict, because the soldiers who were there yesterday weren’t there before.” Seeking asylum from gang threats, he intended to return to Mexico by bridge and request asylum at an official port of entry. The usually busy cross-river commerce on the Suchiate River between Mexico and Guatemala has also slowed to a crawl.
Another migrant returned to Guatemala with his young son after being stopped at a checkpoint in Tijuana, just south of the U.S. border. He told the Associated Press that before the arrival of the National Guard, “with children we’d be able to pass easily, [but] things got hot in the past week.”
The Mexican government says they will also be cracking down on human smuggling. Over the weekend, authorities announced that they intercepted four semi-trucks in the Mexican gulf state of Veracruz that held 791 migrants, including 150 children. Mexico hopes this arrest and others will send a clear message about their intent to stop human smuggling.
