According to an official request to the Mexican Senate made by The Mexican Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR), 30 Mexican Special Forces troops will be training at Camp Blanding through July 26. Meanwhile, while they train, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is accepting bids to build a detention center there to hold immigrants before being deported.
The Mexican Senate must approve all military postings to foreign nations. The Senate approval authorizes Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum to authorize the troop deployment outside of México. The president has the final authority for the troop deployment. The Mexican naval troops were expected to arrive Saturday on board a Mexican Navy CASA CN-295. The Mexican troops are traveling without weapons or ammunition.
A review of online flights arriving at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville does not show that a Mexican naval aircraft landed there in the last 72 hours, although the request to the Mexican Congress explained that a Mexican Naval CN-295 would arrive at Cecil Field on July 13 and return to México on the 26th. The Mexican request states that the Mexican naval aircraft will land at the “Cecil Field Base” in Florida. (translated to English from Spanish) Naval Air Base Cecile Field was transferred to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority in 1999 and now operates as a civilian airport as Cecil Airport.
Fronterizo News also reviewed departure flight log information for both the Benito Juárez International and Santa Lucía airports going back to Friday. Both are in Mexico City, which the flight to Cecil was to depart from. Fronterizo News did not identify any flights departing the two airports and landing at Cecil. It is important to note that unlike its counterpart – the airwing of the Mexican Army which uses the flight identifier “FAM” (Mexican Air Force) followed by the aircraft serial number – it appears that Mexican naval flights are not tracked through publicly available flight logs. Several FAM flights were recorded, but none to Florida over the last few days.
It is unclear if the Mexican Special Operations contingent arrived as scheduled. Public flight information may not have logged the Mexican military flight. Although congress authorized the naval personnel to travel to Camp Blanding, there is no publicly available record in either the US or México indicating that they have arrived for training, or that the Mexican president allowed the training to continue as scheduled. However, there is also no information indicating that they did not arrive in Florida as expected. Publicly available records suggest that the training is proceeding forward.
On May 6, 2025, US officials invited members of Mexico’s Naval Special Operations Unit (Unidad de Operaciones Especiales – UNOPES) for training in Florida this month. This is the first time that Mexican naval troops will undertake this type of training.
The Mexican Senate’s Naval Commission unanimously approved the Navy’s request on June 25, 2025.
Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, part of the Florida National Guard and located southwest of Jacksonville, provides training to numerous federal and state agencies. The base also serves as a Continuity of Government site for the Florida governor and the governor’s Executive Branch.
While the Mexican naval troops train, construction of a new detention facility for migrants was expected to begin next to their training area.
Blanding’s ICE Detention Controversy
Last month, DeSantis said that Blanding was being considered as an immigrant detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It “would be ‘similar’ to the plans to build a detention facility dubbed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’,” DeSantis told News4JAX on June 25.
As of July 1, construction of proposed detention center for 2,000 migrants was expected to begin shortly after the July 4th holiday. According to DeSantis, the expense for creating the detention center at Blanding would be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). However, no opening date has been announced, although state officials have begun accepting bids from vendors.
Opposition to the planned detention center drew protesters on Friday. Protestors are criticizing the expenditures for the center while other community needs exist.
About Mexico’s UNOPES
The Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UNOPES) of the Mexican Navy is a special operations military unit that operates against drug cartels. UNOPES operates several specialized Mexican military units like Fuerzas Especiales (FES) and 27o Batallón de Infantería de Marina, a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) equipped and trained to quickly respond to national emergencies.
Combined training between US and Mexican forces have been ongoing since 2007 as part of the Mérida Initiative.
In February UNOPES hosted 10 members of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group in joint training in Campeche. The joint training started on February 17. The joint exercises and ended on March 28. The U.S. Airborne unit provided specialized training to their Mexican counterparts. The American special forces unit is based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The joint training exercise was part of Tradewinds.
Tradewinds/Fénix
Tradewinds is an annual multinational training exercise held since 1984. In 2020, the training exercise was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tradewinds is a joint military exercise between partner nations designed to strengthen collaboration in counter narcotics operations and in response to humanitarian operations.
Joint training exercises to increase US-México marine interoperability began in 2023 as Phoenix/Aztec Alligator. It is a bilateral amphibious joint exercise. In March, the joint exercise, now renamed FENIX 2025 was held for the second time in Baja California. Almost 150 US Marines trained alongside over 800 Mexican Marines.
The joint exercises at Camp Blanding between the US Army and the Mexican Naval Special Operators is the result of previous multinational training exercises from Tradewinds and Fénix, according to SEMAR’s request to the Mexican congress.
Camp Blanding has hosted Mexican troops for joint training exercises since at least 2012.
The training curriculum is expected to focus on basic tactics, air integrations and full mission profiles, (Curso Táctico Básico, Perfiles de Misión Completa, e Integración Aérea) according to the request to the Mexican congress. The request to congress added that this was the first time that the Mexican Navy would participate in this course.
This article will be updated if we are able to confirm if the training took place as scheduled.
