Border Report Live: Why the US is sending security forces to Mexico

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Mexican law enforcement and aid workers are asking for help, and several countries, including some overseas nations, are answering the call.

Binational coordination between the US and Mexico is nothing new and has been around for over a hundred years.

However, Mexico is facing a new set of challenges, including the fight against organized crime, which some experts say will be a challenge for the country.

In Episode 3 of Border Report Live, border correspondents discuss several binational programs or agreements that should give Mexico a boost in the fight against cartels and an edge in dealing with disasters.

Education across the border

Last June, several buses full of U.S. troops crossed the border for a disaster exercise in Juarez, Mexico, and agents from Tijuana went to San Diego to train with U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The U.S. soldiers were members of the U.S. Army Northern Command’s Joint Task Force Civil Support, based at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

They traveled to the besieged Mexican border town in military helicopters to participate in several joint disaster relief exercises with the Mexican military.

For a week, troops from both countries responded to simulated disasters, including the collapse of the stadium after an earthquake, a chemical spill, a derailed train carrying tankers full of hazardous materials and the collapse of an airport terminal.

The partnership is called Fuerzas Amigas, or “Friendly Forces,” and a similar exercise took place in Reynosa, Mexico, in 2022.

In San Diego in June, U.S. Border Patrol agents also welcomed firefighters and law enforcement officers from Tijuana to learn how to deal with smugglers and injured migrants.

The scenario involved three police officers armed with semi-automatic weapons approaching a migrant who was being robbed by a bandit.

A shootout ensues and both the “suspect” and the “migrant” are fatally wounded. The crime scene is secured and firefighters and paramedics arrive to treat the migrant in distress.

As part of the same agreement between the U.S. Border Patrol and Mexico, El Paso officers trained 25 Juarez police officers on how to respond to public health emergencies such as drug overdoses, how to stop bleeding and how to perform CPR.

Recently, during the Special Forces International Encounter 2024, the newly formed SWAT team of the Chihuahua State Police was trained by security and gang experts from Spain, South America and Central America.

Some experts acknowledged that Mexico faces unique challenges, particularly with its extremely violent cartels, adding that Mexico’s armed forces are unfortunately often under-equipped and in dire need of training.

On the other hand, the foreign experts themselves say that they learn as much as the officers they train.

Experts from international special police units participated this week in the training of the Chihuahua State Police SWAT team.

While the exercises can be spectacular, involving helicopters, guns and hand-to-hand combat, these partnerships allow participants to gather intelligence, something officials say is just as important to their crime-fighting efforts.

For example, the US and Mexico share information to arrest people wanted by authorities on both sides of the border.

One initiative is called “Search informationSpanish for “information seeking,” it involves identifying the most wanted people at the border, having photos of them and a tip line for residents to track them down.

Residents and travelers of the border area may notice posters or billboards of the 10 people at border crossings or other border facilities. In Mexican border towns, the flyers appear along the streets and in stores.

In the El Paso area, tips have led to the arrests of 13 of the 40 fugitives listed on wanted posters at the border.