Sheinbaum orders increased scrutiny of ICE detention centers after deaths of Mexicans in custody
MEXICO CITY — Amid growing outrage over the deaths of Mexican citizens in immigration detention, President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ordered Mexican diplomats to increase scrutiny of U.S. detention centers where Mexican citizens are being held pending deportation.
Sheinbaum said daily visits by consular staff to immigration prisons will now replace the current practice of weekly visits.
Consular officials are tasked with assisting detained citizens in a variety of ways, including obtaining legal advice, reporting medical problems, and communicating with relatives.
The Mexican president addressed the issue at a time of growing anger in Mexico over the rising number of deaths of Mexican citizens caught up in President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
On Monday, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs used unusually strong language in condemning the detention centers as “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of human life.”
The tip follows the latest reported death of Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, a 49-year-old Mexican national who was found “unresponsive” at Winn Correctional Facility in Louisiana on Saturday. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He was at least the 15th Mexican citizen to die in ICE custody or during U.S. immigration enforcement operations since Trump took office, according to the Mexican government.
Four of those killed were being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Southern California, which is the target of a federal class-action lawsuit alleging widespread abuse. Detainees there complain of systemic medical neglect and inadequate food and water, among other complaints.
The Adelanto facility, like the Louisiana prison where Cabrera Clemente was held, is run by a private, for-profit prison company. ICE signed contracts with the facilities because the agency was taking in record numbers of detainees.
Mexican authorities say they plan to file an amicus brief to support the lawsuit challenging the Adelanto detention. The Mexican government has requested an investigation into each of the 15 deaths, but Sheinbaum said Tuesday that U.S. authorities did not respond “in a timely manner to each case.”
Sheinbaum has consistently condemned Trump’s large-scale deportations and immigration raids.
The Mexican government says it is also assisting families of the dead who may appeal to U.S. courts to seek legal redress against ICE. In addition, Sheinbaum said Mexico plans to take the issue of immigrants in US custody to the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. But last month, ICE said the agency was “committed to ensuring that everyone in its custody remains in safe, secure, and humane environments.”
Times special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
