A number of Mexican citizens who spoke to the Daily Caller expressed their support for the increased border security the country put in place after Trump’s tariff threats.
Following a demand from President Donald Trump to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico‘s President Claudia Sheinbaum greenlit Operation Northern Border, mobilizing 10,000 National Guard troops to the border.
3,000 of those troops were sent to the border state of Baja California, home to Tijuana, which borders San Diego and is the state’s largest city.
The National Guard set up a number of additional checkpoints across the border, including one in the border town Tecate, where a number of citizens spoke to the Daily Caller.
The National Guard orchestrated the new checkpoint, located roughly halfway between Tijuana and the state’s second biggest city, Mexicali, to search for drugs and human traffickers. The main thoroughfare that runs through the checkpoint is a prime route for cartel members and smugglers, the guard told the Caller.
Mexican National Guardsmen set up a drug and smuggler checkpoint in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. 2/28/25. Robert McGreevy/Daily Caller
“It’s fine,” Isaac, a resident of Mexicali, told the Caller.
He explained that he’s been travelling the route every day for over 20 years, but had only been stopped there once before.
Another resident, Robert Valencia of Mexicali, viewed the stops as positive.
“I don’t have any problems, I don’t have nothing to hide,” Valencia told the Caller. “I think it’s safety for the rest of the people.”
Mexican citizens are broadly supportive of the new border measures taken by the government.
Robert Valencia and Daniel Rodriguez (with the sickest homemade Yankees hat I’ve ever seen) both told me they supported the National Guard’s increased number of checkpoints. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/BfTjNzw494—
— Rob (@RobMcGravytrain) March 1, 2025
He also explained that he felt the National Guard troops were good people, noting they previously let him off with a warning at the checkpoint after he had a tail light out. (RELATED: ‘President Trump Is Doing A Great Job’ On Immigration, Mexican General Hector Jimenez Baez Says In Rare Interview)
“I think they are honest,” he said.
Daniel Rodriguez, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, also said the increased security made him feel safer.
He viewed them as necessary “for the violence, for the narco stuff.”
When asked if his fellow citizens liked the checks he said “Yeah, sometimes.”
Even some citizens who weren’t necessarily enthused were mostly ambivalent. “It’s kind of weird but it’s ok,” one driver named Quinsela told the Caller at another checkpoint near the coast. But she also noted that she was used to it.
One couple did express disdain for the increased wait times getting back into San Diego from Tijuana.
“Ever since Trump this happens every fucking day,” a woman, who declined to share her name, told the Daily Caller.
She did, however, share that she was not from Mexico and had moved there after living in San Diego.
One couple I spoke to who moved here from San Diego and go back often to watch their daughter play basketball at a local college told me “ever since Trump this happens every fucking day”
— Rob (@RobMcGravytrain) February 28, 2025
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
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