Immigrants are being deported across the United States-Mexico border by the Trump administration, albeit not (yet, at least) in numbers beyond the ordinary.
The United States government has deployed 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the U.S. southern border, even though migrant crossings between official ports of entry have significantly declined.
And on Monday, an armed confrontation between suspected cartel members and U.S. border agents reportedly occurred.
Yes, a lot is happening at the Mexico-U.S. border — even before considering the huge volumes of goods and the significant number of people that cross the border legally on a daily basis.
At her Tuesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged reports of the border clash but cast doubt on their accuracy.
Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez spoke about Mexico’s preparedness to receive Mexicans deported from the U.S. while a senior security official provided an update on homicide numbers.
Mexico to investigate incident at US border
A reporter mentioned that media outlets and “United States authorities themselves” reported that an armed confrontation between suspected cartel members and U.S. border patrol agents occurred on Monday.
VIDEO: Earlier today, @TxDPS responded to assist the US Border Patrol after agents received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico while patrolling in Fronton, Starr County. DPS Drone Operators captured the gunmen fleeing Mexico due to military presence, & seeking refuge on an… pic.twitter.com/oPf5l7wltO
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) January 28, 2025
Chris Olivarez, spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said on X on Monday night that “earlier today,” the DPS “responded to assist the US Border Patrol after agents received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico while patrolling in Fronton, Starr County.”
“DPS Drone Operators captured the gunmen fleeing Mexico due to military presence, & seeking refuge on an island between the US & Mexico,” he wrote.
Olivarez’s post included footage of the alleged cartel gunmen.
The news site Border Report said that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson confirmed the incident.
Fox News reported that “U.S. Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with suspected cartel members near the U.S.-Mexican border on Monday.”
“… The gunfire exchange — which happened exactly one week after President Donald Trump began ramping up border security on his first day in office — occurred at around 2 p.m. local time near Fronton, Texas,” Fox News said, referring to a location across the border from Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Texas.
“A group of illegal aliens was attempting to cross the Rio Grande while bullets were fired but did not make it across. Neither the Border Patrol agents nor the suspected cartel members were hit,” Fox said.
Sheinbaum told her morning press conference that she and other officials discussed the reported incident at their Tuesday morning security cabinet meeting.
“The first thing, before anything else, is to request information from the United States government about … if there really is this issue or not,” she said.
“It was published in various media outlets. It came out today in Reforma [newspaper] as well, which had no reason to put out the headline they did without [having] more information,” Sheinbaum said.
“We all have to be responsible at this time — always, but particularly at this time,” she said.
“We received a note from one of the Consulates that [says the reported incident] doesn’t precisely have to do with the information that appeared in the media. But in any case, I asked the attorney general — or the attorney general was asked — to formally carry out an investigation,” Sheinbaum said.
Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero, who was at the president’s press conference, acknowledged that there is a “report” from U.S. authorities about the incident and said that report warranted the opening of an investigation by the federal Attorney General’s Office.
“And that is what was immediately done, and I believe we’re going to have [the results] in a very short period of time,” he said.
Reception centers for deportees are empty, says interior minister
Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez told reporters that 10 centros de atención (service centers) have been set up to receive immigrants deported to Mexico from the United States.
The centers — located in northern border cities that include Tijuana, Mexicali, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros and Reynosa — are all currently “empty,” Rodríguez said before displaying images showing hundreds of unoccupied beds.
Sheinbaum said Monday that Mexico accepted 4,094 deportees between Jan. 20–26, but none are apparently currently housed in the government facilities in Mexican border cities.
Rodríguez noted that federal and state authorities are contributing to the “México te abraza” (Mexico embraces you) strategy that was formulated to support immigrants deported from the United States during the second Trump administration.
“We’re ready, and we’re coordinated with the conviction of looking after our compatriots with quality, warmth and humanism,” she said.
Guanajuato remains Mexico’s most violent state
Marcela Figueroa Franco, head of the National Public Security System, presented preliminary data that showed there were 1,776 homicides in Mexico between Jan. 1 and 27.
She noted that 53% of those murders occurred in just seven states.
Guanajuato was the most violent state between Jan. 1 and Jan. 27 with 237 homicides, a figure that accounts for 13.3% of the national total in the period.
The other six states that contributed to 53% of the homicide total so far this year were:
- México state: 144 murders.
- Baja California: 141 murders.
- Michoacán: 126 murders.
- Sinaloa: 110 murders.
- Chihuahua: 93 murders.
- Jalisco: 91 murders.
Three states — Durango, Querétaro and Yucatán — have not recorded a homicide so far this year, according to the data presented by Figueroa.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
