Authorities in the United States have seized nearly 9,700 firearms bound for Mexico since U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term Jan. 20, as U.S. agencies intensify efforts to curb cross-border gun trafficking, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at her Tuesday mañanera this week that she had asked Trump to crack down on the smuggling of weapons from the U.S. to Mexico, where they end up in the hands of powerful drug cartels that use them to commit murders and other crimes.
At a press conference last week, the ATF credited the surge in seizures to a renewed focus on dismantling transnational criminal organizations and cartels, which increasingly rely on high-powered weapons to protect trafficking routes and expand their influence.
An ATF press release from Friday noted that favored weapons include large caliber and/or belt-fed automatic rifles such as the FN M240 and FN M249 — long-range, combat machine guns that are widely used by the U.S. military and allied forces and are typically mounted on vehicles and helicopters or used by infantry with a bipod or tripod.
“ATF is on the front line in the fight against gun-related violence associated with organized gangs and drug trafficking organizations,” said John Nokes, special agent in charge of the ATF Louisville Field Division.
While the Trump administration has emphasized its post-Jan. 20 results, the total number of firearms seized in all of 2025 is even higher.
Reports crediting ATF data indicate that 18,286 weapons were seized in ATF operations across the U.S. from Jan. 1 through early May — though this figure includes all firearms, not just those destined for Mexico.
There is no publicly available figure stating the precise number of firearms bound for Mexico seized by the ATF in 2024. Thus, it’s hard to know whether the 9,700 figure since Jan. 20 is a record or massive increase of any sort.
One report published by the newspaper La Jornada noted that the ATF’s Operation Southbound, launched in 2020 under the Biden administration, seized 2,000 weapons bound for Mexico in the first half of 2023, for a 66% increase over a like period in 2022.
The Trump administration’s strategy includes designating major Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that officials say enables prosecutors to seek harsher penalties.
Sheinbaum called Trump’s “tough line” on firearms trafficking historic and praised increased cooperation between Mexico and the United States.
In addition to the press conference last week in Louisville, Kentucky, ATF officials also participated in press conferences in Columbus, Ohio and Nogales, Arizona, to “announce achievements in the interdiction of outbound weapons” and “combatting firearms trafficking to Mexico.”
With reports from La Jornada, El Universal and N+
