MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government on Tuesday protested the deaths of its citizens in U.S. immigration detention as President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed back on several fronts against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies.
The progressive Mexican leader has tread carefully with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations in a measured tone and complying with U.S. requests to crack down on criminal cartels more than his predecessors, in an effort to offset the threat of tariffs and U.S. military action.
But due to the increasing deaths of Mexican nationals in the custody of immigration officials and the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy embargo on Cuba — a key Mexican ally — Sheinbaum has taken a hard line.
“We’ve seen the president raise his voice,” said Palmira Tapia, an analyst at Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “There’s been a shift, and we’ve seen Scheinbaum become more vocal than ever.”
Death in ICE custody
Sheinbaum’s latest rebuke came Tuesday, a day after 49-year-old Mexican national Alejandro Cabrera Clemente died in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, detention center in Louisiana, the fifteenth death of a Mexican citizen in U.S. custody in less than a year.
The Mexican government immediately called the deaths “unacceptable” and the ICE detention centers “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.”
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Sheinbaum added that he had requested an investigation into the deaths of 15 migrants and directed Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily.
He said his government would raise the death in detention centers with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was considering an appeal to the United Nations. His government has already said it will support cases of incarceration in poor conditions in the US.
“We’re going to protect Mexicans at every level,” Sheinbaum said, adding, “There are a lot of Mexicans who don’t have a single criminal record.”
Sheinbaum’s government moves come on top of growing disapproval in the US of Trump’s immigration enforcement. According to a February AP-NORC poll, 6 in 10 American adults say Trump has gone “too far” in sending federal immigration agents to US cities.
“The growing discontent surrounding ICE activities in the United States creates an even more comfortable platform for members of the Mexican government to raise concerns about the fate of Mexican nationals,” said Caryn Zisis, vice president of content strategy at the Council of the Americas.
a ‘big head’
Sheinbaum has maintained what she describes as “big-headed” provocations by Trump, who has put more pressure on Latin America than any US leader in decades. In the space of a few months, the Trump administration impeached the president of Venezuela, imposed an oil embargo on Cuba and threatened military intervention against Mexican cartels.
He must balance maintaining a strong relationship with Trump and appease his own base by repeatedly asserting Mexican sovereignty. His measured responses sound more like those of a lawyer than the head of Mexico’s most powerful populist political movement.
His government has come down harder on cartels than its predecessor and strengthened trade ties ahead of the renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, free trade agreement.
While Trump has taken public jabs at Sheinbaum — at one point suggesting the cartels have more control over Mexico than his government — he has regularly downplayed their friendly relationship.
“He’s a really good person, I like him a lot,” he said last month, proceeding to imitate the Mexican leader in a high-pitched voice.
Partition in Cuba
But shifting geopolitics in the region, and increasing deaths at ICE facilities, have also opened the door for Sheinbaum to take a tougher stance.
The main point of contention between the two governments is Cuba. Solidarity with the US enemy has been a cornerstone of Mexican political ethos since the Cuban Revolution, which Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara and a group of exiles planned while in Mexico City. This is a particular sticking point for his progressive Morena Party, whose founder led Sheinbaum into office.
The relationship was disrupted in late January, when Trump announced tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. The move directly affected Mexico, which has been sending oil to Cuba for years.
Although Sheinbaum has reluctantly halted oil shipments to Cuba, she continues to challenge the Trump administration’s push for regime change.
“Mexico has the right to send fuel, whether for humanitarian or commercial reasons,” Sheinbaum said earlier this week.
She has described Trump’s energy embargo on Cuba as “unjust” and accused the US government of “suffocating” Cubans with the embargo. The Mexican leader has sent shipments of food and other aid, and even donated $1,000 of her own money to relief efforts in a symbolic gesture.
“This is a Rubicon issue for him,” said Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s former ambassador to the US.
Even so, the Mexican leader’s move has raised eyebrows in Washington.
Sheinbaum recently announced that his country would continue to allow Cuban doctors to work in the country, breaking away from other nations in Central America and the Caribbean that have ended their programs in the face of U.S. pressure.
This was met with a veiled threat from the Trump administration, which pointed to visa restrictions on Central American officials in connection with what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to as a “forced labor scheme”.
The White House offered no comment on Sheinbaum’s tough stance Tuesday, nor did it comment on the growing number of deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE custody.
great benefit
Sheinbaum’s recent bold tone suggests a calculation that his administration could push back on some politically important fronts as long as they make progress on meeting the Trump administration’s requests to strengthen trade and security and immigration, Zisis said.
At the same time, rising energy prices caused by the Iran war have made the U.S. more dependent on Mexican allies, he and other analysts said, prompting Washington to hold back on any tough moves against Mexican cartels or Cuba, at least in the short term.
“We are in a moment where, due to global events, we are facing various economic uncertainties. This gives the US and Mexico even more reason to work together,” she said.
At the same time, former Mexican ambassador Sarukhan said Sheinbaum would have to be careful not to jeopardize the upcoming USMCA renegotiations, for which his government has worked hard to build a strong foundation.
“The interesting thing going forward is whether he can continue to have his cake and eat it,” Sarukhan said.
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Weissert reported from Washington DC
