By Dave Graham, Diego Oré and Laura Gottesdiener
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico is preparing to significantly reinforce efforts to detain migrants who illegally cross its border with Guatemala in response to a jump in people trying to enter the United States, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. government said this week it is facing the biggest migrant surge on its border with Mexico in 20 years, presenting authorities a major challenge and sparking concerns inside the Mexican government.
The people familiar with the plan said Mexico would deploy security forces to cut the flow of migrants, the bulk of whom come from three poor and often violent Central American countries whose economies have been battered in the coronavirus pandemic – the so-called Northern Triangle of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Two of the people said Mexico’s National Guard militarized police, which led efforts to bring down migrant numbers during an increase in 2019, would be at the fore of the containment drive.
“The operations will be more frequent, more continuous and we will be taking part,” from next week, a member of the National Guard said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The people did not give details of the plan, but similar operations in the past have focused on a narrow isthmus in the south of the country, rather then trying to stop all crossings on the Guatemalan border where remote and difficult terrain complicates efforts.
Migration authorities are already picking up migrants without proper paperwork around the southern city of Tapachula near the border, the National guardsman said.
Mexico’s National Migration Institute said it had no information on the matter. Mexico’s National Guard and the office of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did not immediately respond.
When asked about the Mexican plan, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the United States appreciated Mexico’s efforts to stem the flows and aimed to continue close cooperation.
The official declined to comment on specific operations and did not respond to a question on whether the White House had requested such action or knew about it in advance. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After taking office in December 2018, Lopez Obrador created the National Guard to deal with internal security, but ended up deploying thousands of its troopers to curb migration under pressure from the previous U.S. president, Donald Trump, a Republican.
Trump’s successor, Democrat Joe Biden, has adopted a more humanitarian approach to migration policy. But the surge in arrivals since he took office in January has tested U.S. authorities and drawn heavy criticism from Republicans.
A sense of urgency has mounted within the Biden administration amid pressure over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, especially over increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors apprehended there.
In Washington, a person familiar with the matter said the new U.S. administration has seen a growing need for the Mexican government to do more to secure its southern border but has steered clear of making demands or direct requests for action.
Biden’s aides want to avoid Trump’s heavy-handed approach to Mexico, preferring a more respectful tone on the divisive issue of migration, but bilateral discussions have touched upon how to curb the flow from the Northern Triangle countries, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Mexican officials had anticipated a sharp escalation in immigration under Biden, with one ruefully noting last month that it would force Mexico “to be the bad guys again.”
The rise in illegal immigration has created a lucrative business for criminal gangs inside Mexico, which is already coping with near record levels of homicides, officials say.
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Diego Ore in Mexico City and Laura Gottesdiener in Monterrey; Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
