Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Thursday her intention to enhance security cooperation between the two nations during U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s upcoming visit to Mexico City. The discussions will focus on fighting drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, weapons trafficking, and improving intelligence cooperation.
The U.S. official’s two-day trip follows recent diplomatic friction stemming from the deaths of two CIA agents near Mexico’s northern border and federal drug trafficking charges filed against 10 Mexican government officials.
Since taking office in October 2024, Sheinbaum’s government has worked to balance cooperation with the Trump administration while protecting Mexico’s national sovereignty against potential U.S. military action threats.
“What we want is for us to continue working within the framework of that (security) understanding,” Sheinbaum stated during her morning press briefing, referencing previous discussions with the Trump administration.
Mullin, who took over the role in March following Kristi Noem’s exit, will also conduct meetings with Mexico’s Security Cabinet during his visit.
The Mexican leader indicated Thursday she plans to address with Mullin the deaths of 15 Mexican migrants in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities since 2025, which sparked formal diplomatic complaints from her administration. Sheinbaum has ordered consular staff to conduct daily inspections of these detention facilities, and Mexico announced in March it would present these cases to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
However, the Mexican president stated she would not discuss the cases of the 10 indicted officials during her talks with Mullin, noting that some of these individuals are members of the ruling Morena party.
In late April, New York’s Attorney General filed charges against Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha, Culiacan mayor Juan de Dios Gámez, and eight additional current and former officials, alleging drug trafficking and illegal weapons possession.
Both Rocha and Gámez have temporarily left their positions to allow for the investigation launched by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, while former Sinaloa administration officials Gerardo Mérida and Enrique Díaz turned themselves in to U.S. authorities last week.
Relations between the countries became tense following the April 19 deaths of two CIA agents and two officials from the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office when their vehicle crashed into a ravine in mountainous terrain between Chihuahua — which shares a border with Texas — and Sinaloa state, where authorities had recently shut down an illegal synthetic drug laboratory.
This incident led to an official complaint from the Sheinbaum administration to Washington, protesting that it had not been notified about the presence or activities of the two U.S. agents operating in the opposition-controlled state of Chihuahua.
