Latest news with #OperationNorthernBorder
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US Army Stryker armored fleet rolls into El Paso, West Texas to boost border security
U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles began rolling to locations along the Mexican border in El Paso and the Big Bend regions of West Texas, the military's Joint Task Force Southern Border said. The M1126 armored infantry transport vehicles were deployed Wednesday, March 26, as part of President Donald Trump's order to deploy military forces to the border to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The deployment of armored vehicles comes as illegal border crossings have dropped drastically. Local community concerns have risen about the dehumanization of migrants and an increased militarization of the border, criticized as costly, unnecessary, and political theater. Last month, Mexico deployed 10,000 troops to Juárez and other cities along the U.S. border in an effort to crackdown on drug trafficking named Operación Frontera Norte (Operation Northern Border). More: Trump administration creating plan to militarize New Mexico border The Stryker is an eight-wheeled vehicle that can carry up to 11 people, according to the U.S. Army. The number of vehicles deployed was not disclosed. Strykers, military tactical vehicles and advanced optical sensors will give soldiers greater capability and mobility that will enhance patrols in vehicles and on foot to "detect, track, and monitor suspected illegal activity" in support of the U.S. Border Patrol, Joint Task Force Southern Border said in a new release. More: 'Thug mode.' US Army soldiers plead guilty to migrant smuggling in West Texas border chase Joint Task Force Southern Border added that CBP and Border Patrol agents will conduct any necessary law enforcement activity. The border deployment includes about 2,400 soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat team, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colorado, Task and Purpose reported. The infantry soldiers arrived at Fort Bliss earlier this month. On March 20, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the U.S. military to support border law enforcement with mobile ground-based monitoring, the task force stated. The goal is "to control every inch of the Southern border," Hegseth said in a February visit to the border in El Paso and neighboring Sunland Park, New Mexico, accompanied by Border Czar Tom Homan. "Everything is on the table when it comes to securing the border and dealing with cartels," Hegseth said. There were 2,110 migrant encounters in February compared with 23,919 that same month a year ago in the Border Patrol's El Paso sector, which covers westernmost Texas and all of New Mexico, according to CBP data. The city of El Paso's border emergency declaration expired in February. It was first issued by former Mayor Oscar Leeser as a form to obtain federal funding and support during the humanitarian migrant crisis in December 2022. Since 2021, Texas National Guard and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have been patrolling behind miles of new razor-wire barriers, part of Gov. Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star, to deter migrants from reaching the U.S. border to seek asylum or other immigration relief. Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@ and @BorundaDaniel on X. This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: US Army Stryker armored vehicles deploy along US border in West Texas
USA Today
11-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Mexican military inspects US-bound vehicles in Juárez to curb border smuggling
Mexican military inspects US-bound vehicles in Juárez to curb border smuggling Mexican military troops began conducting inspections of U.S.-bound vehicles lined up in Juárez waiting to cross the Paso Del Norte Bridge into Downtown El Paso. The street checks began this weekend and appear to be an effort to deter drug smuggling as part of "Operación Frontera Norte" (Operation Northern Border), which Mexico launched last week with the deployment of 10,000 troops to more than a dozen cities along the U.S. border. The deployment, intended to fight smuggling on the U.S-Mexico border, was part of a deal between U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to avoid economically hazardous threatened trade tariffs on imports from both nations. It is not uncommon for National Guard troops and soldiers to set up checkpoints in various parts of Juárez as part of regular anti-crime efforts. In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico's military is sending 1,620 troops to Juárez, 500 troops to Palomas (across the border from Columbus, New Mexico), and 470 troops to Ojinaga (across from Presidio, Texas), according to an infographic map from El Universal newspaper. Mexican army soldiers and National Guard troops have made 15 arrests, rescued 20 migrants, seized over two dozen firearms and more than a dozen vehicles and various amounts of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine in the state of Chihuahua as part of Operation Northern Border, according to daily news bulletins from Mexico's Security Cabinet. More bodies found at El Willy mass gravesite Chihuahua state investigators have unearthed six new graves at the mass gravesite at El Willy in the northwestern rural mountain region of the state, authorities said. More than 60 clandestine graves have now been found since Jan. 21 in the mountain forest near El Willy, a small community located in Ejido Ignacio Zaragoza, about 40 miles southwest of the town of Casas Grandes. Forensic investigators found and processed six graves, and in four of them found a decomposed body, two complete skeletal remains plus other partial remains, the state attorney general's office said on Feb. 5. Crime-scene anthropologists and forensic investigators continue excavations and efforts to identify the dead, who are believed to possibly be victims of forced disappearances tied to rival drug cartels operating in the region near the Chihuahua-Sonora state line. In December, a dozen bodies were found at another suspected "narco graveyard" in the desert in the same northwestern region of Chihuahua state near the town of Ascensión, located some 50 miles north of Nuevo Casas Grandes along the highway to Juárez. Murders decrease in Juárez, Chihuahua state Homicides in Juárez dropped about a third in the first month of 2025 compared to a year ago as part of an overall decrease across the state of Chihuahua, state police officials said. The decline in deadly violence — mostly believed to be linked to fighting between organized crime groups involved in drug and migrant trafficking — was a positive sign. However, there is still much work to be done, Chihuahua Public Safety Secretary Gilberto Loya said at a Feb. 3 news conference. Juárez: There were 82 homicides compared with 125 in January 2024, a 34% drop, Loya said, citing state public safety statistics. Homicide statistics in Mexico can often vary depending on the reporting agency. Chihuahua City: Homicides fell about 11% from 37 in January 2024 to 33 last month, Loya said. Chihuahua statewide: Violent deaths statewide dropped about 19%, with a total of 158 killings this past January compared with 194 in the same period in 2024. It is unknown if the January dip in bloodshed will continue. There have already been about 24 homicides in Juárez in the first 10 days of February, El Heraldo de Juárez reported. Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@ and @BorundaDaniel on X.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Mexican soldiers deploy along US-Mexico border near Juárez after Trump's tariff threat
Mexican soldiers deploy along US-Mexico border near Juárez after Trump's tariff threat CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Mexican soldiers and National Guard troops have started deploying to the U.S.-Mexico border. The caravan of white National Guard vehicles set out to the border in the early afternoon Wednesday, Feb. 5, kicking up dust as they sped off from the National Guard Vocational Training Academy in Juárez, which sits just across the Cuatro Siglos boulevard from the border wall. Masked soldiers, armed and in combat gear, sat in the backs of the transports as they sped, lights flashing, through the afternoon traffic. The units set out for hot spots along the border where criminal groups regularly move drugs and people across the border. The troops are being deployed as part of the Operation Northern Border, a bi-national agreement with the United States that looks to crackdown on smuggling networks along the border. The roughly 120 troops are the first of 10,000 troops that are to be deployed to contain the trafficking of migrants, illegal drugs like fentanyl, and weapons from the United States. They began to arrive in Juárez on a military flight from Mérida, Mexico, on Tuesday, Feb. 3. Other elements of the Mexican military and National Guard will be arriving in the coming days. More: Devastation, dismay overcomes migrants waiting in Juarez to seek asylum in US Why are troops here? The deployment of Mexican troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is part of an agreement between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and President Donald Trump to delay the implementation of tariffs on Mexico. President Trump had ordered the tariffs to be implemented on Canada and Mexico over accusations of failing to address migration and drug trafficking. The 25% tariff on Mexican goods was delayed for 30 days under the condition that Mexico address the flow of migrants and illicit drugs into the United States. The U.S. also agreed to address the illegal trafficking of guns into Mexico. "The fentanyl crisis in the United States, they obviously have to do their part in the United States," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 3. More: Trump's military deportation flights cost more, carry fewer migrants How many soldiers will be deployed? Mexico announced that 10,000 soldiers and National Guard troops will be deployed in 18 cities in the six states that share a border with the United States. Most troops are being deployed to Baja California and Chihuahua, with both border states receiving 3,010 and 2,620 soldiers. Juárez is set to receive 1,650 soldiers. Mexican military expert Alexei Chavez estimates it could take a week for all 10,000 troops to be deployed to the border. Have National Guard troops been deployed to border before? The Mexican government has deployed National Guard troops in immigration operations since its formation in 2018 in the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. They are currently deployed in immigration operations in both northern and southern Mexico. Mexican troops have regularly been shifted to the border to address organized crime and insecurity. Troops have recently been deployed to the border to address migration. López Obrador deployed troops to the border to address mass migrant caravans in 2019 after then President Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs. Around 10,000 troops were moved to the U.S.-Mexico border in an agreement with the Biden administration in April 2021, according to the Associated Press.
USA Today
04-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Mexico deploys military troops to border in 'Operativo Frontera Norte'
Mexico launched a massive, attention-grabbing deployment of 10,000 military troops dubbed "Operativo Frontera Norte" to cities and towns on the border with the United States, including Juárez. US-Mexico border:US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth makes first visit to border in El Paso, Sunland Park The deployment includes an unspecified number of Mexican army soldiers and National Guard troops going to Juárez and the Chihuahua-state border towns of Ojinaga, across from Presidio, Texas, and Palomas, across from Columbus, New Mexico, reported La Verdad Juárez news site. Videos and photos posted on social media by Mexico's Secretariat of National Defense, known as SEDENA, showed military troops lined up boarding military transport planes and rows of army trucks rolling out in the predawn darkness Tuesday from army bases in Mexico City and other cities. The response — translated as "Operation Northern Border" — is part of an agreement reached Monday, Feb. 3, between U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum postponing trade tariff threats and counterthreats for a month that created uncertainty and economic rattles. Troops are also being sent to other border cities, including Tijuana, Mexicali, Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros. Trump asked Mexico to do more to counter the smuggling of fentanyl and other drugs and illegal immigration to the United States. Mexico is calling on the U.S. to do more to stop the trafficking of firearms sold in the U.S. going to Mexico. "The fentanyl crisis in the United States, they obviously have to do their part in the United States," Sheinbaum said on Tuesday at her regular morning news conference in Mexico City, adding that the U.S., Canada and Mexico are all in the fight against organized crime. For decades, Mexico has regularly deployed and rotated its military forces on anti-crime and counter-drug missions to various hot spots across the country, including Juárez, with various levels of success. In 2021, Mexico, in an agreement with the Biden administration, sent 10,000 troops to its borders to reduce migration to the U.S. border, the Associated Press reported. Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@ and @BorundaDaniel on X.
