Mexican officials announced Thursday they intend to file criminal complaints in the United States over the deaths of several Mexican nationals during immigration enforcement operations, marking the nation’s most forceful diplomatic protest to date against the Trump administration’s border policies.
Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez disclosed the strategy during a news conference, two days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a Mexican man in Houston. The individual had lived and worked in the U.S. for decades and was attempting to secure legal residency at the time of the incident.
Velasco stated Mexico will lodge complaints with U.S. state prosecutors and the Department of Justice, demanding criminal investigations into the deaths of 14 Mexican citizens in immigration detention centers and three others during enforcement raids under the current administration.
The Department of Homeland Security did not dispute Mexico’s tally of citizens who have died in its custody but rejected assertions that migrant deaths have surged since President Trump returned to office. The Department of Justice declined to comment.
Bilateral relations have deteriorated sharply during Trump’s second term, with the president issuing verbal attacks and tariff threats. The administration has also intensified pressure on Mexico to target corrupt officials and cartels, even threatening military action against criminal groups. President Claudia Sheinbaum has pushed back, insisting sovereignty remains a cornerstone of the bilateral relationship. U.S. prosecutors have indicted 10 current and former Mexican officials, including a sitting governor, seeking their extradition; Mexico has refused, citing insufficient evidence.
The treatment of undocumented Mexican immigrants has become another major flashpoint. The fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent in Houston on Tuesday represents the latest killing linked to the administration’s mass deportation campaign. Homeland Security officials claimed Araujo attempted to use his vehicle as a weapon, though no video or corroborating evidence has been released.
“We cannot allow our brothers and sisters in the United States to be mistreated,” Sheinbaum said Wednesday. “His only offense was lacking immigration documents.”
Mexican officials noted Thursday that the government has already submitted 11 formal requests to the U.S. State Department seeking investigations into immigrant deaths, raised the issue with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and urged a regional human rights body to review the cases.
“Our goal is to go beyond diplomatic notes,” Sheinbaum said Thursday, adding that her administration is preparing “more important legal measures.”
Chimène Keitner, an international law professor at the University of California, Davis, observed that diplomatic engagement appears to have reached an impasse.
Some analysts in Mexico warn the legal offensive could backfire, lacking the legal weight to alter U.S. policy while further straining relations with the Trump administration.
Tensions persist even as the three nations prepare to co-host the men’s World Cup. As the tournament progressed in late June, immigration arrests in the United States quietly surged.
