Mexico City – Amid growing outrage over the deaths of Mexican citizens in immigration detention, President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ordered Mexican diplomats to step up inspections of US detention centers where Mexican citizens are being held for deportation.
From now on, daily visits to immigration lockups by consular personnel will replace the current practice of weekly visits, Sheinbaum said.
Consular officers are tasked with assisting detained compatriots in a variety of ways, including obtaining legal advice, reporting medical issues, and helping to contact relatives.
The Mexican president addressed the issue as outrage grows in Mexico over the rising number of Mexican citizens trapped under President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
On Monday, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry used unusually strong language in condemning the detention centers, calling them “inconsistent with human rights standards and the protection of human life.”
The condemnation follows the latest reports of a Mexican national, 49-year-old Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, who was found “unresponsive” at Louisiana’s Winn Correctional Center on Saturday. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to the Mexican government, he was at least the 15th Mexican citizen to die in ICE custody or during US immigration enforcement operations since Trump took office.
Four of those who died were being held at the Adelanto ICE processing center in Southern California, which is the target of a federal class-action lawsuit alleging widespread abuses. Detainees there alleged systemic medical neglect and inadequate food and water, among other complaints.
The Adelanto facility, like the Louisiana lockup where Cabrera Clemente was held, is run by a private, for-profit prison company. ICE has contracted with the facilities as the agency detains record numbers of detainees.
Mexican officials say they plan to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit against the Adelanto lockup. The Mexican government has called for an investigation into each of the 15 deaths, but Sheinbaum said Tuesday that U.S. officials had failed to provide a “timely response to each case.”
Sheinbaum has consistently condemned Trump’s mass deportations and immigration raids.
The Mexican government says it is also helping families of the deceased who may turn to US courts for legal redress against ICE. Additionally, Sheinbaum said Mexico plans to bring the issue of migrants in US custody before 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 is “committed to ensuring that all people detained live in a safe, secure, and humane environment.”
Times Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal contributed this report.
