A measure that would extend the Mexican military’s role in public security through 2028 has been approved by the country’s Senate.

In 2019, Mexico’s legislature approved a constitutional reform that allowed the country’s military to be used temporarily for public safety through 2024 in order to give the newly created and nominally civilian National Guard time to get up and running. Cecilia Farfan, co-founder of the Mexico Violence Resource Project, said the new reform — which still needs to be considered by the Chamber of Deputies — raises doubts about how temporary the role will actually be.

She has “great concern about how there is increasingly less commitment toward really developing civilian institutions that are involved in public security in Mexico,” she said.

The reform comes in the wake of recent revelations about the military’s use of surveillance tools and accusations against military leaders regarding their role in the 2014 mass disappearance of 43 education students.