Over 21,000 Troops Deployed Across Mexico To Stop Migrants - Defense Minister

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2019) Mexican defense chief Luis Cresencio Sandoval said on Monday over 21,000 troops had been deployed across the country in a bid to stop illegal migrants from reaching the United States.

"It is a total deployment of National Guards and military units ... almost 15,000 of them to the north of the country," Sandoval said during a daily press briefing.

An extra 2,000 troops were sent to the southern border with Guatemala and Belize, while 4,500 troops were stationed in Mexico's southeast.

Mexico agreed to tighten border controls after the United States threatened it with steadily rising import tariffs if it did not stop thousands of migrants from marching to the US southern border.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said some 14,000 of them had been sent back to Mexico since January while their requests for US asylum are being processed.