On June 7, to avoid the imposition of U.S. tariffs on Mexican products, Mexican authorities agreed to implement a plan to contain migrants, many making their way from Central American countries north to the United States.
The country plans to deploy 6,000 troops from the Mexican army and Marines, sending 40 percent of them to its southern border. More than 400 troops are already operating there as of last Saturday, wearing bracelets that say Guardia Nacional, or National Guard.
Troops in heavily armed military trucks at checkpoints, working together with federal police and immigration authorities, are stopping buses and taxis looking for undocumented migrants.
Luis Raúl González Pérez, head of Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights, urged the federal government not to prioritize national security over human security.
“Just as we condemn that the United States militarizes the southern border of its country and our northern border,” Pérez said, “Mexico should not fall into the same prospective.”
1 of 6
Encarni Pindado
An undocumented Guatemalan man is detained while he was traveling by bus from the Mexican city of Tapachula, near Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, en route to Mexico City. He will be transported to a migration detention center and sent back to his country.
2 of 6
Encarni Pindado
An agent of the National Migration Institute, a Mexican government agency, together with a soldier of the Mexican army, detain a Cuban immigrant traveling by bus from Tapachula to Mexico City. Since President Obama ended special exceptions for Cuban migrants in 2017, they have been using the same routes to migrate to the U.S. as many Central Americans.
3 of 6
Encarni Pindado
Mexican National Guard search vehicles at a checkpoint in Frontera Comalapa near the border with Guatemala. Local residents complain about the nuisance of being constantly stopped and searched, causing delays in their daily trips.
4 of 6
Encarni Pindado
The Guardia Nacional at a checkpoint north of the city of Comitan, in Chiapas. According to a local immigration agent, convoys of trucks carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants pass regularly through this area.
5 of 6
Encarni Pindado
The federal police and National Migration Institute agents check for undocumented immigrants in taxis on the roads of southern Mexico.
6 of 6
Encarni Pindado
Locals ride a motorbike past a checkpoint in Comitan. Some local people are uncomfortable with the presence of the army; others see it as a positive effort to control migrant trafficking and smugglers.