Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed on Tuesday to confront the US over the deaths of Mexican migrants in its immigration centers.
Sheinbaum has responded to US President Donald Trump’s opposition to immigration by protecting Mexico’s sovereignty while meeting his demands to curb the operations of drug cartels. At the same time, the threat of tariffs and other economic or military sanctions was looming.
But, as the number of Mexicans and other immigrants dying in US detention centers increases, and after the Trump administration’s decision to impose an embargo on Cuba – Mexico’s ally – Sheinbaum appears to have changed his ways.
At a press conference Tuesday, he called the killings “unacceptable” and the ICE detention facilities “not consistent with human rights standards and the protection of life.”
“We will protect the Mexican people at all levels,” he said. “There are many Mexicans whose only crime is undocumented,” he continued.
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The Mexican government also said it had called for an investigation into the deaths and ordered Mexican diplomats to make daily visits to detention centers.
Sheinbaum said his government will raise the death toll in detention centers to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and is considering lobbying the United Nations. His government has already said it will support lawsuits filed in the US by prisoners due to poor conditions.
FILE – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives a press conference from the National Palace in Mexico City, Oct. 2, 2024, the morning after his inauguration.
AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File
His sentiments seem to echo those of other Americans. According to a February AP-NORC poll, nearly six in 10 American adults say Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents to American cities.
“The growing discontent surrounding ICE operations in the United States creates a more comfortable platform for members of the Mexican government to express concerns about the fate of Mexican citizens,” Carin Zissis, vice president of content strategy for the Council of American States, told the AP.
Sheinbaum had previously described himself as keeping a “cool head” in the face of Trump’s pressure on Latin American countries in recent months. This year, his administration arrested and removed the president of Venezuela, blocked oil in Cuba and threatened military intervention against Mexican cartels.
“This will not be an opportunity for the US to attack our sovereignty,” Sheinbaum said in February after the Trump administration formally designated eight Latin American criminal organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
“We want it to be clear, when we look at this position, that we are not discussing our sovereignty,” he added. “There will be no disruption or condescension.”
“Both countries want to reduce drug use and illegal drug trafficking,” concluded the Mexican president.
While Trump took a public swipe at Sheinbaum — at one point suggesting that the cartels have more control over Mexico than his government — he also acknowledged that there is peace between them.
“He’s a really good person, I like him a lot,” he said last month, continuing to impersonate the Mexican leader in a high-pitched voice.
– Via files from the Associated Press
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