Mexico - September 2026

A steady increase of deaths among Mexican nationals in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and during ICE field operations has become a point of friction in the US-Mexico relationship in recent months. This has pushed President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government to move from diplomatic dialogue towards formal legal action even as it continues to seek security and trade cooperation with Washington. On 19 August Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez presented an update on the criminal complaints that Mexico filed in the US regarding the issue the previous month, noting that some progress had been made.

According to Mexico’s foreign ministry (SRE), at least 17 Mexican nationals died in situations linked to ICE between January 2025, when President Donald Trump took office, and mid-July 2026: 14 while held in detention centres, and three during ICE operations in the field. Velasco gave that tally publicly on 9 July, at President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, two days after an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the US for 35 years, during an operation in Houston. “We cannot be indifferent to the Mexicans who have died in ICE operations or who were detained in these detention centres operated by private companies contracted by ICE,” Sheinbaum said, adding that her administration would now move beyond diplomatic talks towards more forceful legal action.

That escalation followed soon after. In a note published by the SRE on 14 July, the ministry set out four concrete steps taken from 13-14 July: a complaint lodged with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), coordinated with Mexico's federal attorney general’s office (FGR) and transmitted through the Mexican embassy in Washington DC; 20 separate criminal complaints filed by Mexico’s ambassador to the US, Roberto Lazzeri, with state and district attorneys across the eight jurisdictions where deaths occurred – Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas; cease-and-desist letters sent to the detention facilities involved, which the SRE describes as the first formal step towards eventual litigation; and a letter to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, asking his office to assess the deaths against the US’ international human rights obligations and refer the matter to the UN Human Rights Council.

Prior to taking this action, the SRE said it had already sent 11 formal diplomatic protest notes to Washington on the issue, but had only received the reply that the government was “carrying out investigations”. It noted that it had separately backed a civil class-action lawsuit against GEO Group, the private contractor that runs the Adelanto detention facility in California, where several Mexican nationals have died.

Updates

On 19 August Velasco gave an update on the issue, which he said was a priority for the SRE, albeit one that would be pursued “without seeking conflict with the US government”. Regarding the lawsuits, eight of which were filed with state attorneys and 12 with district attorneys, he said that the SRE had received various replies. Some were simply to acknowledge receipt of the complaints, while others responded with more detail. For example, a state attorney’s office in Florida replied that the findings of its investigation into the death of Mexican national Royer Pérez-Jiménez, who died in March at the Glades County Detention Center, had aligned with the ICE’s investigation, stating no further investigation was necessary. However, others such as the district attorney offices in Ventura, California; Cook, Illinois; and Harris, Texas, replied to say they would begin assessing appropriate action regarding the complaints.

Velasco said Mexico had also received a response from Türk, “in which he expressed his awareness of and concern about the situation” and said he had forwarded the information to the UN Human Rights Council for independent consideration. Velasco added that Türk had “called on US authorities to conduct prompt investigations and urged the responsible authorities to guarantee the human rights of the victims and… ensure justice”. The foreign minister said that all this represented progress, adding that there had also been progress in cases filed by individuals or families against the detention centres, which the SRE is supporting with legal representation through its external legal advisory programme.

“We want an investigation to be conducted; and if any member of the government, ICE, or the private contractors who staff and manage the detention centre is found to be responsible, then appropriate action should be taken,” said Sheinbaum at the same press conference, adding that “there are far too many cases, and it is our obligation to always defend Mexicans who are in the US or anywhere else in the world.”

Differences

Despite some partial progress, further breakthroughs may remain difficult given that Washington maintains there has been no meaningful rise in the underlying death rate of migrants. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said in a 29 May statement responding to coverage of conditions at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey that “there has been no spike in deaths” adding that, “consistent with data over the last decade… death rates in custody under the Trump Administration are 0.009% of the detained population,” and that the agency has “maintained a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold US citizens.” Furthermore, in February, DHS’ chief medical officer, Dr Sean Conley, claimed that detainees receive “timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody,” and that this amounts to “better, more responsive healthcare” than many of the migrants “have ever received in their entire lives.”

For Sheinbaum, the issue of migrant deaths in ICE custody sits alongside other differences currently testing the bilateral relationship. This includes suspected covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations in Mexican territory [SSR-26-07] and the indictment of Sinaloa state officials aligned with Mexico’s ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) [SSR-26-06], as well as visa cancellations of other prominent Morena politicians, and ongoing trade concerns. Unlike in some other cases, which touch directly on questions of sovereignty and expose divisions within her own party, the ICE deaths allow Sheinbaum to occupy relatively uncontested political ground athome: demanding accountability for the treatment of Mexican citizens abroad will not likely stoke cross-party tensions or draw the kind of domestic criticism that stems from allegations of cartel-government collusion. That may explain why her government has been willing to escalate this particular dispute into formal legal channels even as it treads far more cautiously and bides its time on other US pressure points.

• Visas

Tensions have flared between the US and Mexico after the US government revoked the visa of Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, a son of Mexico’s former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024). López Beltrán announced his visa revocation on 13 August, saying the decision was “political in nature, or rather, petty political manoeuvring and propaganda, in the Hitlerian style”, adding that “there is no reason that justifies such an arrogant action”. President Sheinbaum, the political protégée of López Obrador, also deemed the move political, accusing the US of interfering in domestic politics. While no reason has been given for the visa cancellation, the political opposition has pointed to López Beltrán’s alleged links to a major fuel smuggling ring, among other unproven corruption allegations.

Whether US prosecutors or courts act on Mexico’s complaints, however, remains an open question. As with the issue of arms trafficking, which has seen the SRE file lawsuits against US arms manufacturers and sellers [SSR-25-07], the government may hope that the mere act of taking legal action will raise awareness about the issue and increase pressure on the US to address the conditions facing migrants in ICE custody. However, Sheinbaum’s government will also be aware that there is a limit to how far it can push the issue before it starts to impact the complex bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Deaths in custody

According to ICE’s records, over 50 migrants have died in ICE custody since President Trump took office in January 2025. This includes 22 so far this year. According to US-based NGO Human Rights Watch, “the mortality rate of deaths in ICE custody is at its highest level in over a decade and has more than doubled since Trump’s second term began”.