The death of a Mexican man in Houston at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement threatens to upend already strained relations between Mexico and the United States.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took the unusual step of announcing at a press conference Thursday that Mexico is seeking civil and criminal investigations in the United States in connection with the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals during immigration operations or in detention centers.
The Mexican government said these investigations were aimed at “protecting the human rights of Mexicans in the United States.”
The announcement was prompted by the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in an ICE shooting in Texas last week. Salgado Araujo, who was living in the United States illegally, was shot and killed by agents after he rammed a law enforcement vehicle during a traffic stop and refused to comply with verbal commands, ICE officials said.
His family disputes ICE’s account, and the 52-year-old father of three told CNN he would have stopped the car following him if he had known it belonged to law enforcement.
At the press conference announcing the request for a criminal investigation, Sheinbaum also called for petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Asked about Sheinbaum’s comments, the Department of Homeland Security defended ICE’s actions.
“ICE officers are trained to use the least amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations because they prioritize the safety of our citizens and employees,” the agency said.
The agency also said detainees in ICE custody “receive full due process, have adequate food, water, medical care, and the opportunity to contact family and legal counsel.”
Analysts who spoke to CNN said Salgado’s death and Mexico’s response could signal a major rift between Mexican and U.S. authorities.
“This is no small event,” said José Luis Valdes Ugalde, a scholar at the Center for North American Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). “It has implications for bilateral relations and concerns such as “security, migration, and trade” that Mexico and the United States face.
Fausto Pretelin, an international affairs expert and newspaper columnist, said relations between Mexico and the United States are at a “low point” in the aftermath of Salgado Araujo’s murder. But he believes Mr. Sheinbaum’s actions are just political points to be won within Mexico and will further deteriorate relations.
“This is a performance,” Pretelin said of Sheinbaum’s presentation. “We’re missing an opportunity to think seriously about these issues. And I’m seriously saying we should use diplomatic channels.”
However, one might argue that there has been a lot of traffic on this issue especially in diplomatic channels. Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco told reporters that the Mexican government had already issued 11 diplomatic notes protesting the United States over the deaths of its citizens.
Now his country had to “go beyond diplomacy.”
Pretelin and Valdes Ugalde have warned that Sheinbaum’s announcement will cause problems for U.S.-Mexico relations, but some experts believe the Mexican president is not doing enough yet.
Academic and columnist Tomas Milton Muñoz Bravo, professor of international relations at UNAM, says this kind of response should have happened sooner.
“It’s incredible that it took 17 people to die before the Mexican authorities finally announced a strategy that went beyond mere diplomacy with the judiciary,” Muñoz Bravo said. “Of course, the announcement has been made, but we still want to see the announced actions actually unfold.”
But Valdes Ugalde points out that the United States shows no signs of caring about Mexico’s criticism of its immigration policies. Similarly, Valdes Ugalde said Mexico did not know how to protect immigrant communities and made what he described as “mistakes” in foreign policy.
One of them, Valdes Ugalde said, is refusing extradition requests for politicians allegedly involved in drug trafficking, citing national sovereignty. This has given the Trump administration leeway to retaliate in other areas, such as renegotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which protects many Mexican exports from U.S. tariffs.
“There are no signs that relations will be repaired. Relations are severely damaged by the attitude of both governments and Mexico’s defensive posture,” Valdez Ugalde said.
Muñoz Bravo said November’s midterm elections in the United States could present an opportunity for Mexico if Republicans lose control of Congress.
“What happens in November is extremely important,” he said. If Trump “does not have a majority in the House of Representatives, there will be checks and balances and even room to negotiate with other actors in the United States.”
Until then, tensions between the neighbors remain high, with further deaths of Mexican migrants threatening to deepen the rift.
