The Iron River: Flow of weapons across the US-Mexico border

Illicit gun-smuggling from the United States to Mexico has increasingly armed organized criminal groups with firearms, including military grade firearms, in their highly lethal territorial disputes with each other and with government security forces. Mexican authorities have claimed that at least half a million firearms are smuggled into Mexico from the United States each year. The unrelenting pace and volume of this flow has earned it the name the “Iron River.” 

In this year’s edition of the Mexico Peace Index, we examine the impact of illicit gun-smuggling from the United States to Mexico, a devastating flow which has been referred to as the “Iron River.” This flow has increasingly armed organized criminal groups with firearms, including military-grade firearms, in their highly lethal territorial disputes with each other and with government security forces. Mexican authorities have claimed that at least half a million firearms are smuggled into Mexico from the United States each year. 

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