Baja California Security Secretary Laureano Carrillo confirmed the deployment of 400 federal troops to the state, with operations concentrated in Tijuana’s high-crime neighborhoods. The reinforcement includes 300 Mexican Army soldiers and 100 members of a rifle brigade, Carrillo announced during Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila’s morning security briefing in March 2026.
Troops Target Lomas Taurinas, Sánchez Taboada, and Otay
The federal troops are part of Mexico’s National Security Strategy and will focus on neighborhoods including Lomas Taurinas, Sánchez Taboada, Otay, Terrazas del Valle, San Antonio de los Buenos, Camino Verde, Emperadores, and downtown Tijuana. These colonias have long been flashpoints for cartel-related violence and street crime.
Lomas Taurinas, on the hillsides south of the Zona Río commercial district, and Sánchez Taboada, east of downtown Tijuana, are densely populated areas where drug trafficking organizations have competed for territory. Otay sits near the Otay Mesa border crossing, a key commercial port of entry between Tijuana and San Diego.
Lawyers Group Questions Strategy’s Track Record
The deployment drew criticism from the Baja California Lawyers Association (FEDABO). The group called the troop surge a “failed formula,” arguing that sending more federal agents without adjusting strategy has shown little long-term impact in past operations. Tijuana has seen repeated federal deployments over the past two decades, dating back to Operation Baja California, a military operation launched in the mid-2000s to combat the Arellano Félix cartel.
Still, state authorities maintain that coordination between state and federal forces is essential to reducing violence. Baja California recorded one of Mexico’s highest homicide rates in recent years, with Tijuana consistently ranking among the country’s most violent cities.
The 400 troops will join existing state and municipal police forces already patrolling the Tijuana metropolitan area, home to roughly 2 million people. Residents should expect increased military checkpoints and patrols, particularly along major routes through the targeted colonias and near the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa border crossings.
Carrillo did not specify how long the federal deployment would last or whether troops would also be stationed in other Baja California cities such as Mexicali, Ensenada, or Rosarito, according to Zeta Tijuana.