Irregular crossings between Guatemala and Mexico are part of daily life along the porous border, and locals fear a planned deployment of Mexican troops could disrupt that while doing little to stop migrants who are trying to reach the U.S.
Guatemalan farm hands on their way to work in Mexican fields from Guatemala toward Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico, Thursday, June 13, 2019. The Suchiate cuts a winding north-south course en route to the Pacific Ocean, the westernmost part of Mexico’s expansive southern frontier with Guatemala and Belize.
Mexico announced recently that it is sending 6,000 agents of its new, still-forming, militarized police force known as the National Guard to its southern region for immigration enforcement as part of a deal with Washington to avoid President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexican imports. While technically illegal, the relaxed back-and-forth flow of people has long been largely tolerated. But word of the impending deployment is making people jittery - even though no Guard agents have arrived so far to join federal police, soldiers and immigration agents who stepped up enforcement in recent months.
There has been no word of how the newly formed Guard will operate, but a force of 6,000 seems more than necessary just to bolster the government’s previous tactic of operating checkpoints on key highways leading north. Several of those were already operating in southern Chiapas state, with police and immigration agents checking IDs of bus passengers, so locals fear the guardsmen will focus more on the border itself.
In Frontera Hidalgo, most Guatemalans crossing the river come to buy food and other goods at the town’s shops and then wade back. Locals worry businesses could suffer if authorities scare people off. Cristobal Barrios has been operating a raft since he was 13. Now 38, he worries that any ramped-up river enforcement could hurt his and others’ livelihood.
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