Mexico rounding up, deporting migrants hoping to reach U.S. | World Defense

Mexico rounding up, deporting migrants hoping to reach U.S.

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APRIL 24, 2019
Mexico rounding up, deporting migrants hoping to reach U.S.
By Nicholas Sakelaris
Mexico-rounding-up-deporting-migrants-hoping-to-reach-US.jpg

Agents of Mexico's National Institute of Migration of Mexico detain a young girl Monday during an operation in Pijijiapan. Photo by Daniel Ricardez/EPA-EFE

April 24 (UPI) -- Mexico has deported about 15,000 migrants from Central America who'd been part of a caravan trying to reach the United States, Mexican officials said.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has changed his policy for migrant caravans, amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. Migrant groups that used to be welcomed in Mexico are now being detained by police and sent back.

"[They are] mainly from Central America, but also from other countries," Alejandro Encinas, Mexico's interior secretary for humans rights, saidMonday.

Mexican Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero said the "mother of all caravans" was preparing to leave Honduras for Mexico late last month

Mexican authorities raided one caravan Friday to check for legal migration documents. Officials said they deported many who didn't have them. Mexican authorities this week set up a checkpoint south of Pijijiapan with buses and trucks to haul the migrants back across the nation's southern border. Some migrants had armed themselves with sticks and stones to fight off the Mexican police, officials said.

Despite Mexico's effort, officials say thousands more continue to flow into the country hoping to make it to the United States. U.S. Customers and Border Protection reported 92,000 unauthorized immigrants in March -- the highest figure in 11 years.

In addition to the deported, Mexico said it's also detained 3,200 migrants in shelters along its southern border with Guatemala.

Mexico rounding up, deporting migrants hoping to reach U.S.
 

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Trump makes new threat to send US troops to Mexican border
By: Joe Gould
24.04.2019

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Soldiers emplace strands of concertina wire along the border fence on March 8, 2019, near Campo, Calif. (Sgt. 1st Class Ben K. Navratil/Army)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made a new threat Wednesday to send armed soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump tweeted that “Mexico’s Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border,” but he didn’t offer any support for the drug-smuggling claim.

He tweeted: "Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!"

U.S. troops are already at the border to help reduce illegal crossings. The Pentagon has acknowledged more than 5,000 military personnel have been deployed to the southern border, at a cost of $235 million in fiscal 2018 and an estimated $448 million in fiscal 2019.
The Pentagon and U.S. Northern Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Associated Press quoted White House adviser Kellyanne Conway saying that Trump "is just making clear, as he always has, that he has many different actions at his disposal" to try to stop what the administration calls a humanitarian crisis at the border.
Asked if Trump will, in fact, send additional troops to the border, Conway replied: “He may.”

The tweet came after two U.S. soldiers in a remote area of Texas on April 13 were confrontedby five or six Mexican soldiers who thought the Americans had crossed into Mexico. The Mexican troops reportedly removed a weapon from one of the American soldiers, who were traveling in an unmarked vehicle.

The U.S. soldiers were north of the border but south of a border fence, according to U.S. Northern Command, which said, “the U.S. soldiers were appropriately in U.S. territory,” and “followed all established procedures and protocols.”

While Trump suggested future U.S. troops at the border would be armed, the incident showed that at least some of the U.S. troops at the border are already carrying weapons, said Christopher Wilson, of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.

“While the incident shows that mistakes can and do happen, rather than increasing tensions between the two militaries it emphasizes the importance of ongoing bilateral cooperation and communication more than anything else,” Wilson said, adding that, “communication between the troops from both countries led to a rapid de-escalation of what could have been a much more grave incident.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised at a Wednesday news conference to investigate the border incident.

"We are going to analyze this incident, we are going to take account of what he (Trump) is indicating and will act in conformity with the law, within the framework of our sovereignty," Obrador said.

He added: "We are not going to fight with the government of the United States. The most important thing is that we want a relationship of mutual respect and cooperation for development."

Trump recently backed off his threat to seal the entire border, citing Mexican cooperation.

The Associated Press and Leo Shane III, in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Trump makes new threat to send US troops to Mexican border
 
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