Mexico seeks charges over deaths of 17 nationals in US custody

Mexico said it will press U.S. state prosecutors and the Justice Department to consider criminal charges over the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals linked to immigration detention and enforcement, turning a border dispute into a sharper diplomatic clash with Washington. Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said the government will also pursue civil lawsuits against the companies that operate detention centers, a move that adds legal pressure to a fight that has already moved beyond consular complaints and diplomatic notes.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico is no longer content to file protests and human rights petitions. The government, she said, “cannot stand silent” as it responds to the killing of Mexican citizen Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston this week, which she said appeared to have been targeted. The request for U.S. prosecutors to consider charges has no binding legal force, but it raises the political stakes for the Trump administration as it expands deportations.

Mexico said 14 of the 17 deaths happened in ICE custody and three occurred during immigration enforcement operations. The shift comes after Mexico had already used diplomatic notes and raised cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Human Rights Watch said the Houston shooting is the latest in a string of fatal incidents involving federal immigration agents over the past two years.

Salgado Araujo, 52, had lived in the United States for roughly three decades before he was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Tuesday during a vehicle stop in Houston. ICE said he tried to ram officers and was shot in self-defense, while his family and rights groups have called for a thorough independent investigation. The case has fueled protests in Houston, including a vigil and a mass march on July 8.

The broader dispute now sits at the center of U.S.-Mexico relations. Reuters has reported that at least six people have been shot dead in immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when Trump returned to office and launched a mass deportation campaign. For Mexico, the deaths of its citizens in U.S. custody are no longer being framed as isolated incidents, but as evidence of a system that is exposing migrant families to lethal force and forcing consular protection into a far more confrontational phase.