The protests came as the government officially began deploying the National Guard to try to seal the country's porous southern border and control immigration and crime. The demonstrations threatened to complicate the formation of the new force, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has bet Mexico's future security on.
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[President Andrés Manuel López Obrador] has been dismissive of the federal police, characterizing them as a failed security force. He gave military officers the bulk of the responsibility for the National Guard. The new agency is also seeking new recruits. Protesting police at the command center in the capital's Iztapalapa borough said their seniority, rank and benefits would not be recognized within the National Guard.
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"I am federal police. I respect the principles of my institution, and I want to have a dialogue," [National Guard Commandant Patricia Rosalinda] Trujillo [Mariel] shouted over the crowd.

Police officer Alejandra Baez Villanueva said the police need their jobs to support their families.

"We aren't protesting. We're just demanding our rights," she said. "We just want them to respect our seniority, because for (members of) the army and the navy, they respect it, and for us as federal police they don't."