MEXICO CITY, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The newly-formed National Guard has been instructed to respect human rights of immigrants while enforcing their duties, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday.
Lopez Obrador faced repeated questions at his daily news briefing on Tuesday about photos that emerged last week of the National Guard detaining female immigrants in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, the U.S. State of Texas.
The National Guard was not instructed to carry out such detentions, he said, vowing to investigate the reported event.
It is possible that members of the security force could have done "excesses" when doing their duties, but "the instructions they all have are to respect the human rights of the migrants," he said, adding that such instructions will continue.
Some 15,000 National Guard members and soldiers have been deployed along Mexico's northern border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the United States, Defense Minister Luis Sandoval said on Monday.
Lopez Obrador initially formed the National Guard, a public security body consisting of armed police, to fight drug cartels and curb rising violence in Mexico.
Under the pressure of the United States, about 6,500 National Guard members were deployed earlier this month along Mexico's southern border with other Central American countries to curb immigrantion.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened last month to impose tariffs on all imported Mexican goods in order to pressure the southern neighbor to halt undocumented migrants.
