Mexico Proposes Sending National Guard to Southern Border
The proposal is to send 6,000 troops, says Mexico’s foreign minister.
(Bloomberg) -- Mexico is proposing to send national guard troops to its southern border with Guatemala as it seeks to stem the flow of undocumented migrants and reach a deal with the U.S., Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
The proposal is to send 6,000 troops, Ebrard said as he ended meetings with U.S. officials on Thursday, confirming earlier reports. The minister had said previously in the day that there were unspecified “advances” after meeting with U.S. counterparts at the State Department.
Mexican officials are in talks with U.S. cabinet members in Washington this week to prevent President Donald Trump from slapping a 5% tariff on all imports from Mexico on June 10. Trump said last month he’d scale up the duties incrementally until they reach 25% on Oct. 1 if Mexico doesn’t stop migrants from entering the U.S.
Mexico’s head of public security, Alfonso Durazo, had told Bloomberg News in July 2018, when he was still an incoming minister, that he was planning his own border police force to stop undocumented immigrants, drugs and guns from crossing into the country. He later modified the strategy to say he’d form a special force in tourism spots like Cancun hit by high crime, after human rights organizations criticized the plan for a border force.
The Washington Post had reported earlier Thursday that Mexico pledged to send National Guard troops to the border.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net;Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Carlos Manuel Rodriguez at carlosmr@bloomberg.net, Juan Pablo Spinetto
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