Mexico has lodged 20 criminal complaints with state and county prosecutors across eight US states over the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or during enforcement operations since May 2025. The complaints, filed on 13 July in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas, were accompanied by a formal request from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office transmitted to the US Department of Justice on 14 July, demanding investigations and a response on their progress. According to the Mexican foreign ministry, no reply has yet been received from US authorities.

Viewed from Mexico City, the legal offensive is part of a broader diplomatic push. Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco wrote to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 14 July, asking the office to gather information, assess compatibility with international human rights instruments and issue technical recommendations. The government of President Claudia Sheinbaum has stated that the actions will not disrupt the bilateral relationship, including the ongoing renegotiation of the North American free trade agreement. In Washington, US officials have defended recent fatal shootings of migrants by federal agents as necessary to protect officers and the public, while the Department of Homeland Security has sharply increased arrests, averaging over 1,400 per day in early July after a record June of nearly 40,000 detentions.

A report published on 25 July by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights documents 52 deaths in ICE custody during the first 500 days of President Donald Trump’s second term, a mortality rate the groups describe as the highest recorded in many years. The 73-page study, based on limited publicly available data and medical analysis, accuses ICE of severely restricting information provided to Congress, families and the public, making effective oversight “practically impossible”. It details cases including that of a Mexican national, Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, who died after being diagnosed with Covid-19 and spending 12 days in isolation, and notes that the detainee population has grown by 77 per cent in the first year of the administration.

Civil society groups in Mexico have called a demonstration at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City on 25 July, demanding justice and declaring that the deaths “cannot be forgotten or become just another statistic”. The Mexican consular network is providing legal assistance and support for the repatriation of remains to the families of the deceased. The foreign ministry expects advances in the coming weeks, while the UN human rights office may consider the request for scrutiny. The legal and diplomatic moves unfold even as Mexican migration to the United States has fallen to its lowest level in 55 years, with 11.1 million Mexican-born residents recorded in 2024, though they remain the largest foreign-born group in the country.