Photo: Baker Institute

By KELIN DILLON

Late in the evening on Thursday, Sep. 19, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a constitutional reform that will transfer the National Guard to the supervision of Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).

The reform passed with a qualified majority, with 362 votes in favor and 133 against after more than seven hours of deliberation in the San Lázaro Plenary. The National Guard, which was initially established as a civil security force in 2019 by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), will now be shifted to military command, a move that has sparked controversy and legal challenges since López Obrador first made the transfer decree in 2022.

However, AMLO’s 2022 push to bring the National Guard under the Army’s command culminated in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruling the transfer as unconstitutional – specifically, “constitutional fraud “ – in April 2023. 

Despite this, López Obrador persisted in his efforts and submitted a reform package in February 2024 to officially bring the National Guard under the Sedena. 

Now, with the majority of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) and its allied parties in both chambers of Congress, the proposal to transfer the National Guard to military command will move to the Mexican Senate for further discussion later this September.

This move has continued to raise concerns and opposition from those who believe that a military-led National Guard contradicts the original intent of establishing a civilian security force.