Elements of Mexico’s National Guard. Photo: Gobierno de México

By KELIN DILLON

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Mexico’s federal government officially deployed 10,000 personnel from the National Guard (GN) to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of its temporary tariff pause deal with the United States.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (CSP) agreed to send thousands of troops to the border during a call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, Feb. 3, resulting in the suspension of Trump’s proposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexican goods until March 4.

“We reached a series of agreements: Mexico will reinforce the northern border with 10,000 members of the National Guard immediately to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl. Tariffs are paused for one month from now,” Sheinbaum said Monday.

Now, the GN personnel will be strategically stationed at key points along the border like Tijuana, Mexicali, Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez. This deployment is a measure to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s key demands to prevent fentanyl and migration into the United States.

Hundreds of troops were reportedly transported to the border by plane early Tuesday morning, while thousands more are purportedly in transit via land to their destinations, many of which were pulled from previous stations in other Mexican states.

“These elements will reinforce the troops already deployed on the border to stop the flow of fentanyl, other drugs, and illegal immigration to the United States; also, to prevent the introduction of weapons from the United States, always in strict adherence to human rights,” said the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena).

During her daily morning press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 4, Sheinbaum reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining security in all states affected by GN reassignments.

“There are 120,000 elements of the National Guard,” said CSP. “This was a plan drawn up by the General Secretary, and there, to see where there is a possibility of sending these elements, and now they are sent to the northern border, but it should be known that we are not leaving the states of the republic uncovered, but rather conducting a reorientation of the forces.”

“In some areas where there are elements of the National Guard, who do not have as many security problems in some regions, the troops were sent to the northern border; others who were in the southern part of the border states, go to the northern border,” concluded the Mexican federal executive.