Mexico sends cease-and-desist letters to US detention centers
Mexico’s foreign ministry announced the request Tuesday, stating it had asked U.S. state attorneys general to criminally investigate the deaths of Mexican nationals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or during ICE enforcement operations. A similar request was sent to the U.S. Department of Justice. The ministry acknowledged that the United States is not legally obligated to act on the requests.
The push for criminal investigations followed the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old construction worker who was shot by an ICE agent in Houston on July 9. Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was driving his crew to a job site when the shooting occurred, according to his family. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said the man had rammed an ICE vehicle and that an agent fired in self-defense. His death sparked protests in Houston and demands for an independent investigation from Democratic lawmakers and his family.
According to the ministry, 17 Mexican immigrants have died since the start of Trump’s second term — 14 while in ICE custody and three during enforcement operations.
In a separate but related action, the Mexican government said it has begun sending letters to U.S. detention centers where Mexican immigrants have died. The first was sent to the Adelanto facility in California, where four Mexican immigrants died. The letters demand that facilities “immediately cease the actions or omissions that resulted in these deaths,” including preventing access to prompt medical care and applying policies “incompatible with medical and penitentiary standards.” The ministry described the letters as a first step toward “the eventual filing of civil lawsuits” against the private companies operating the detention centers.
Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco, who had previewed the plans last week, also escalated the matter to the United Nations. In a letter to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, Velasco requested that U.S. authorities gather information on the deaths and analyze their “compatibility with international human rights obligations.” He further asked Türk to seek an opinion from the Human Rights Council, a U.N. intergovernmental body, and offer recommendations.
The actions represent a notable escalation of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s response to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Sheinbaum earlier this year ordered Mexico’s diplomatic missions across the U.S. to regularly check in with ICE detainees, and her government previously lodged a complaint with the U.N. over conditions in U.S. immigration detention.