Mexico City — Mexico’s government is taking legal action in the United States over the deaths of Mexican citizens who have died either while held in U.S. immigration custody or during anti-immigration enforcement operations, Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco announced Thursday.
Velasco told reporters that 14 Mexican nationals have died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while three additional deaths occurred during arrest operations carried out by the agency.
“We are going to move beyond the diplomatic sphere and go directly to U.S. prosecutors to file complaints regarding these incidents, requesting that they are investigated as criminal matters,” Velasco said.
The announcement comes after a U.S. ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who had been living in the United States without legal status for approximately 30 years. The shooting took place on Tuesday.
His death triggered protests in Houston and pushed the total number of people shot and killed during immigration enforcement actions to at least six since January 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began a large-scale deportation campaign.
Neither the U.S. Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for comment before publication.
