Mexico will tighten diplomatic actions in the face of deaths of compatriots in ICE custody

Published at: 30/03/2026 12:43 PM

This Monday, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced in statements to the press that her government will increase the level of demand before the United States (USA) after the confirmation of the death of a citizen in a detention center in California.

The death, which occurred last Wednesday in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), marks a turning point in the consular protection strategy of the current administration, which seeks to guarantee respect for the human rights of migrants on U.S. territory.

The president stressed that Mexico's response will not be limited to sending traditional diplomatic notes. “More complaints are going to be made; we are going to take measures to protest against what happened. There are several actions that we are going to take in the face of another death of one compatriot in the United States,” said Sheinbaum. The president placed special emphasis on the critical record of the detention center involved in Los Angeles, noting that the recurrence of incidents in that facility requires stronger intervention.

This death represents the second case of a Mexican who died in ICE custody in the last ten days, in addition to the death of Royer Pérez Jiménez, a 19-year-old boy who lost his life last March 16 at the Glades County Detention Center, Florida. The accumulation of these events in a short period of time has set off alarm bells in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), which is already working on documenting both cases to support international complaints.

With these measures, the Mexican government seeks to pressure U.S. authorities to conduct thorough and transparent investigations into health and safety conditions in its detention centers. The Sheinbaum administration thus reaffirms its commitment to using all legal and diplomatic mechanisms at its disposal to prevent lack of medical care or mistreatment from continuing to claim the lives of Mexican citizens abroad.

Mazo News Team