National Guard (Mexico)

The National Guard (Guardia Nacional) is a Mexican gendarmerie with national police functions created in 2019. The National Guard was formed by absorbing units and officers from the Federal Police, Military Police, and Naval Police.

Creation
Before becoming President of Mexico, Andrés Manual López Obrador campaigned on a promise to take the military off the streets of Mexico. Shortly after getting into office, Obrador released a plan to create the National Guard under control of the Mexican Armed Forces which would be in charge of "preventing and combating crime". Obrador stated that the new National Guard would be critical to solving Mexico's ongoing security crisis.

On 28 February, the Mexico's national legislature voted to approve a 60,000-member national guard. On 30 June 2019, the National Guard was officially established.

The new National Guard, de facto successor to a similar formation raised in 1821 and abolished in 1935, is composed today of personnel from:


 * the Federal Police
 * Including National Gendarmerie, Federal Forces and Regional Security Divisions
 * the Presidential Guards Military Police Brigade, four other military police brigades and regional MP battalions of the Mexican Army
 * Naval Police battalions under the Mexican Navy

Deployment at border
President of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened to raise tariffs on Mexico if it did not help to curb migration to the United States. In early June 2019, as part of a deal the United States, Mexico agreed to deploy the newly formed National Guard to their border with Guatemala. While the guard was always intended to enforce immigration policy, it was not intended to do so as soon as announced.

Command structure
The law assigns the ultimate command of the National Guard to the Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection.

According to article 12 of the Law of the National Guard, the National Guard is organized on five command levels:
 * Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection;
 * Operational Commander;
 * Territorial Coordinator;
 * State Coordinator;
 * Unit Coordinator