At least 15 Mexican nationals have died in ICE detention since 2025. Mexico demands investigation

After the death of another Mexican national in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, Mexico’s foreign ministry called the agency’s detention centers “incompatible with human rights standards.”

At least 15 Mexican nationals have died either in ICE detention or during ICE enforcement actions since President Donald Trump took office last year, according to Mexico.

“Since January of 2025, we have had, I think, kind of a record number, which is 15 people, 15 Mexican nationals, who have died while they are in detention,” said Mexico’s Phoenix Consul General Jorge Mendoza Yescas.

Now, Mexico is demanding investigations and more oversight of ICE detention facilities. The country is also filing an amicus brief in a class action lawsuit challenging conditions at a Los Angeles area facility where multiple Mexican nationals have died since the Trump administration ramped up enforcement efforts early last year.

After the most recent death of a Mexican national, who ICE says died in a Louisiana facility on Saturday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on Mexican consulates across the United States to also escalate consular visits to all ICE detention facilities from weekly to daily.

“We’re going to do everything necessary to defend Mexican nationals,” Sheinbaum said.

The Phoenix consulate performs daily visits to the ICE processing center in Phoenix, Mendoza Yescas said. In Arizona, Mexico has deemed the deaths of at least two Mexican nationals under ICE custody “unnecessary” since January of last year, according to Mendoza Yescas.

Mexico has formally called on U.S. authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into each of the 15 deaths across the country. The country also said it will submit a request for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to address the topic of deaths in U.S. immigration detention centers.

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MARK BRODIE: At least 15 Mexican nationals have died either during ICE enforcement actions or while in the agency’s custody, and Mexican officials aren’t happy about it.

As my next guest has reported, the country’s Foreign Ministry has called ICE detention centers "incompatible with human rights standards." And Mexico’s president has called on consulates across the U.S. to check in on detention facilities more frequently. With me now to talk more about all this is KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky from our Hermosillo Bureau. Nina, good morning.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Good morning.

MARK BRODIE: So, what is the situation? What are we seeing in terms of Mexican nationals and their interactions with ICE?

NINA KRAVINSKY: Yeah, definitely. So, you know, first I think I should say that deaths in ICE detention this year are at a high. You know, they’re at least 16 people total, not just, you know, Mexican nationals. And if they continue at this rate, those deaths will outpace last year’s more than 20-year record of deaths in ICE detention.

Experts say that that increase in deaths interestingly also outpaces the increase of people in detention, which of course has been pretty sizable since Trump’s inauguration this year. And you know, I think it’s important when we’re talking about this to talk about the conditions, of course, inside ICE detention facilities.

KJZZ

A recent deportee that I just spoke with last week in Nogales, Sonora — he’d just been deported from Phoenix — and he spent two months in this Arizona detention facility in Florence where he was detained for a while. And he said that conditions were pretty bad. It was dirty and overcrowded.

And one expert that I spoke to said that, you know, migrants in ICE detention these days have less redress for poor treatment than they used to. There are fewer people that they can go to to complain about poor conditions. So, you know, the Trump administration did last year cut positions that used to provide oversight for immigration detention.

MARK BRODIE: So Nina, you have reported that Mexican officials are pretty unhappy about this situation. What are they saying and what might they be able to actually do?

NINA KRAVINSKY: Yeah, so, you know, just in these past two weeks, as you mentioned, ICE has reported very recent deaths in its facilities. One was, like you said, a Mexican national who died in a Louisiana detention facility. He’s one of at least 15 people who have died this year.

And you know, Mexico’s government has had some pretty strong words at the very least about this. You know, they’ve invoked human rights concerns. And Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said, like you said, she would ask her consulates in the U.S. to do more consular visits to ICE detention centers.

And Mexico is also calling on U.S. authorities to conduct their own investigations of each of these deaths. You know, Mexico is really trying to pull on sort of these diplomatic levers to try to enact some sort of change. But obviously, ICE detentions are something that’s happening in another country, in another foreign sovereign nation.

And so the amount that they can do is relatively limited in terms of sort of actual actionable measures. But certainly Mexico and Mexican officials on a high level seem to be taking these ICE deaths pretty seriously and trying to speak pretty strongly about them from within the bounds of their own country.

MARK BRODIE: Nina, what are you hearing from Mexican officials here in Arizona specifically?

NINA KRAVINSKY: Yeah, so I spoke to the consul general in Phoenix, and he told me that his consulate in particular wants U.S. authorities to do a thorough investigation of two Mexican nationals who died in Arizona ICE facilities last year, or in Arizona ICE detention.

He called the deaths of these two men unnecessary. One was a 32-year-old man who’d spent much of his life in Flagstaff and graduated high school there. And ICE said at the time of his death that the cause of that death was unknown and under investigation. His family, though, says he likely died from complications from COVID and that he didn’t receive necessary medical attention.

MARK BRODIE: So Nina, there’s some pretty interesting political implications of all this for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. It seems like she kind of has to walk this tightrope when it comes to dealing with President Trump and his administration. What are folks in Mexico, maybe on this side of the border as well, saying about that?

NINA KRAVINSKY: Yeah, definitely. I mean, that’s exactly right. She’s been on this fine line since really she came into office in fall of 2024 and sort of immediately had to start speaking to, either directly or through the media, then President-elect Donald Trump.

And you know, she’s always trying to sort of be firm but also not provoke President Trump. And you know, Mexico does have a lot to lose when it comes to its relationship with the U.S. That’s something that people are definitely worried about. Just this week, trade representatives from the United States were in Mexico City to talk about this upcoming review of the USMCA trade deal.

That’s the trade pact, you know, that binds the U.S., Mexico and Canada. And Mexico and the U.S. are economically dependent on each other in a lot of ways. You know, Mexico’s economy would definitely suffer if that trade agreement were to fall apart.

But on the topic of ICE deaths, Sheinbaum has been pretty firm. Like we’ve said, you know, she said after the death the other week in Louisiana that Mexico would do everything possible to protect its citizens in the United States.

MARK BRODIE: Interesting. All right, that is KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky from our Hermosillo Bureau. Nina, thanks as always. Really appreciate it.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Thank you, Mark.