US, Mexico conduct security exercises near border

US and Mexican armed forces performed exercises Thursday along the border near the cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.

The area is also where the Juarez Cartel operates, which Washington last month deemed a terrorist organization, adding it to a blacklist with others such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The security demonstration was done by US Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an AFP journalist observed, while the Mexican forces involved military personnel and National Guard members.

"If you have engaged with terrorist activity, if you are a member of a terrorist organization or if you have provided material to support these terrorist organizations, you will face severe legal and immigration consequences," said Hamid Nikseresht, supervisor of special operations for the US Border Patrol, at a press conference in El Paso.

Numerous police and military vehicles from both countries traveled along the Rio Grande, a natural border closely monitored by the US.

The exercises also involved helicopters from which personnel descended by rope.

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, Mexico has been pressed to tamp down the flow of migrants and drugs into the United States.