A bipartisan congressional delegation helmed by two Texans successfully urged Mexico’s legislature to approve a joint military exercise between the U.S. and Mexican armed forces, according to multiple reports.
Mexican lawmakers initially balked at approving the joint exercise — which would assign 19 U.S. Navy SEAL Team 2 members to train alongside the Mexican Navy in the city of Campeche along the Gulf of Mexico — following the Jan. 3 capture of ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. The Mexican legislators later approved the military exercise after a visit from a U.S. congressional delegation in January, according to Politico.
The U.S. delegation, led by retiring Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul — the former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — allowed U.S. lawmakers to raise the issue and push their Mexican counterparts to allow the military exercise under close oversight.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signed off on the service members’ entry to the country earlier this week, and the country’s Senate unanimously approved the Marines’ entry on Wednesday, according to Spanish-language outlet Infobae. The exercises will run from Feb. 15 to April 16.
McCaul chairs the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group alongside ranking member Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar. The pair released a statement Thursday, expressing that the approval of the military exercise was a key objective of their delegation’s visit to Mexico.
“We had constructive discussions with Mexican lawmakers and senior officials on regional security, counternarcotics, immigration, trade, agriculture, and border infrastructure,” Cuellar said in a Wednesday press release. “These conversations are essential to strengthening border security, stopping the deadly flow of fentanyl, protecting American agriculture, ensuring USMCA delivers for U.S. workers, supporting cross-border trade, and holding Mexico accountable to its water treaty obligations.”
The congressional sway for the exercise approval comes as President Donald Trump looks to crack down on Mexican drug cartels to combat fentanyl trafficking. The Mexican government has repeatedly rejected Trump’s offer to “take out the cartels.”
Mexico is the primary producer of U.S. bound fentanyl, and in early January, the U.S. president reiterated his goal to target the drug trafficking cartels on land. Trump administration officials said on Wednesday a Mexican cartel’s drone had breached U.S. airspace, and officials quickly closed airspace around El Paso International Airport to launch counter-drone operations.
U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), the Department of War unified combatant command responsible for Mexico, did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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