Mexico Sends Almost 15,000 Troops to US-Mexico Border to Curb Illegal Immigration

Members of Mexico's National Guard detain Cuban migrants after they were trying to cross illegally the border between the U.S. and Mexico, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 21, 2019. Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez

Mexico has deployed just under 15,000 soldiers and National Guard members in the north of the country to curb the flow of illegal immigration across the border into the United States, Mexican Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Monday, June 24.

Sandoval said that the soldiers were needed to back up migration officials in containment operations.