Mexican troop deployment met with skepticism on U.S. border

by Jean Arce

Mexican armed troops guard the fence snaking along the U.S. border as part of a deal with President Donald Trump, who delayed tariffs on Mexico in exchange for increased efforts against illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling.

But locals are skeptical the soldiers will make a difference so far as drug trafficking is concerned.

"It's just a way of trying to look good so they don't raise tariffs. They are political agreements," said Armando Jauregui, a 35-year-old Mexican who works at a duty-free shop next to the Tijuana-San Diego border crossing, one of the world's busiest.

"It will be business as usual, even with more police here. If you catch one Chapo, tomorrow another Chapo will appear," he told AFP, referring to infamous drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Almost 2,000 extra troops were assigned to Tijuana, just south of California, as part of the 10,000-strong border reinforcement that President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged on Monday under the deal with Trump.

Members of the National Guard were seen arriving by plane in Tijuana and other cities along the frontier.

They quickly got to work guarding and patrolling the border, searching for clandestine tunnels used to smuggle migrants and drugs including the deadly opioid fentanyl.

In return, Trump agreed to put 25-percent tariffs on Mexican goods on pause for a month.

Mexico has pledged to successive US administrations to tackle illegal flows of drugs and migrants, and US border states already had a heavy security presence including thousands of troops.

- 'Pretty pointless' -

Tijuana is on the frontline of this high-profile effort to reduce the illegal flow of drugs and migrants across a border that stretches nearly 3,150 kilometers (2,000 miles).

Equipped with assault rifles and with their faces covered, members of the National Guard stood watch near Tijuana's beach -- a popular spot for locals and tourists.

Jose Luis Zuniga, an arts and crafts vendor, said there had been a noticeable increase in the security presence since Trump took office.

"There's a lot of National Guard around at the moment," as well as members of other branches of the security forces, the 73-year-old said.

Baja California, which is home to Tijuana, was Mexico's second most violent state in 2024 with 2,368 murders -- 7.9 percent of the national total, according to official figures.

Several hundred thousand people have been killed since Mexico deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.

Faced with the spiraling violence and power wielded by ultra-violent drug cartels, Zuniga said he thinks having extra troops on patrol in Tijuana "is pretty pointless."

"They are just checking people don't try to cross (the border). But you don't see drugs going across here or anything like that... There must be another way to cross," he said.

US Marines have also been seen unrolling barbed wire to strengthen the border fence since Trump took office.

The Republican ordered the deployment of 1,500 additional soldiers to the frontier, declaring a "national emergency."

Araceli Lopez, a restaurant worker, had a front-row view of the marines' work, which took place in front of her home along the border fence.

"They are here welding, putting up barbed wire. They have been here for four days now, and it's so noisy," the 35-year-old said, adding that she opposed Trump's migration policies.

"We Mexicans are hard-working. We go (to the United States) in search of a better life," Lopez said.

"They don't see it that way. But the truth is we only go there to work."

© Agence France-Presse