Report: US Pushing to Have Troops in Mexico

Washington is leaning hard on Mexico to let American forces cross the border to hit fentanyl labs—despite President Claudia Sheinbaum's repeated refusals, reports the New York Times. US officials are pushing a plan that would send either Special Operations troops or CIA officers out on raids alongside Mexican soldiers, in what would be a major expansion of the American role in Mexico's drug war, officials tell the newspaper. The idea first surfaced last year, then faded, but was revived after US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, reports CNN. Trump recently told Fox News the US has largely cut off seaborne drug routes and now wants to target land-based cartels, especially in Mexico.

Sheinbaum says direct US participation "is not necessary." Instead of US combat forces on the ground, Mexico has offered expanded intelligence-sharing and a bigger US role inside Mexican command centers, where American advisers already help direct Mexican units to suspected labs, relying in part on CIA drone flights. Some US officials favor going further, including potential drone strikes—something that would breach Mexican sovereignty and could destabilize the government, Mexican officials warn.

At present, only unarmed US security personnel are stationed in Mexico, and all receive the government's approval, according to Mexico's security chief, Omar García Harfuch. "What would they be needed for?" he said last month of US forces, stressing that what Mexico needs is "information." But given Trump's moves in Venezuela and vow to target drug cartels in Mexico, Mexican officials fear the US may act without approval. That could trigger a loss of support for Sheinbaum. But on the flip side, allowing US forces to take part in ground operations could trigger the same result, the Times reports. For now, Mexico is trumpeting its own crackdown—deployments in Sinaloa, more arrests, and more labs reportedly destroyed at nearly four times the pace of the last government.