Mexico’s much-touted deployment of thousands of National Guards troops to the border to fight drug smuggling at ports of entry has proven to be highly ineffective. Their actions at the border led to significant travel delays and possible violations of international commerce programs used by manufacturing companies.
The tactic began in early February after U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on Mexican goods. As Breitbart Texas reported, to avoid those tariffs, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised to deploy 10,000 National Guardsmen to the northern border to stop drug and human smuggling.
As part of their deployment, Mexico’s National Guard set up a series of northbound checkpoints at all ports of entry where they inspect all vehicles. Unlike the checkpoints on the north side of the border, the Mexican ones do not have any x-ray or scanning devices used to look inside vehicles. Also, the National Guardsmen do not have drug-sniffing dogs and carry out cursory searches of all vehicles.
The checkpoints have exponentially increased the time needed to cross from Mexico to the United States. In the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and the surrounding areas, the average wait time jumped from 1-2 hours to four to five hours since the implementation of the National Guard checkpoints.
The checkpoints implemented by Mexico’s National Guard have caused long lines at ports of entry but have failed to yield any seizures. (Credit: Breitbart News Foundation / Ildefonso Ortiz)
In their searches of commercial vehicles, Mexican National Guardsmen have also been ripping up the seals used by manufacturing companies that are part of the CTPAP program. Under this program, vehicles are sealed upon leaving a manufacturing plant and are only to be opened by officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The issue has sparked concerns with various plant managers over worries that the ongoing ripping of seals could cause problems with the program.
The poorly conducted searches of both commercial and passenger vehicles have not led to any drug seizures at any of the northbound inspection areas at the ports of entry, federal law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas.
The ones that have been making drug seizures are officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Last week, officers at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge seized more than 470 pounds of cocaine, valued at $6.2 million, that were hidden in a cargo trailer. The truck had crossed through the Mexican National Guard checkpoint.
On March 4, CBP officers carried out another seizure at the Anzalduas International Bridge near Mission, Texas, when they seized almost 26 pounds of cocaine that had been hidden inside a Chevrolet Traverse. Again, that vehicle had crossed through Mexico’s National Guard checkpoint.
On February 24, CBP officers at the Hidalgo International Bridge seized more than 208 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of $2.7 million. The drugs had been hidden inside a tractor-trailer that had also gone through a Mexican National Guard checkpoint.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].