MEXICO CITY — Amid growing outrage about deaths of Mexican citizens in immigration custody, President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday ordered Mexican diplomats to step up scrutiny of U.S. detention centers where Mexican nationals are being held for deportation.
Daily visits by consular personnel to immigration lockups will henceforth replace the current practice of weekly visits, Sheinbaum said.
Consular officials are tasked with assisting detained compatriots in various ways, including helping to obtain legal counsel, report medical issues and contact relatives.
The Mexican president addressed the issue as indignation is rising in Mexico about the escalating numbers of deaths of Mexican citizens caught up in President Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
On Monday, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry deployed unusually forceful language in condemning detention centers as “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of human life.”
The denunciation followed the latest reported death of a Mexican citizen, Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, who was found “unresponsive” Saturday at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, 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 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 abuse. Among other complaints, detainees there allege systemic medical neglect and inadequate food and water.
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 has taken in record numbers of detainees.
Mexican authorities say they plan to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit against the Adelanto lockup. The Mexican government has demanded investigations of each of the 15 deaths, but Sheinbaum said Tuesday that U.S. authorities had failed to provide “punctual responses to each case.”
Sheinbaum has consistently denounced Trump’s large-scale deportations and immigration raids.
The Mexican government says it is also helping families of the deceased who may turn to U.S. courts to seek legal redress against ICE. In addition, Sheinbaum said Mexico plans to bring the issue of migrants in U.S. custody before the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
ICE did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. But last month ICE said that the agency was “committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.”
Times special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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