The State Division is initiating a evaluation of all 53 Mexican consulates working in america, a U.S. official instructed CBS Information on Thursday, in a transfer that might lead Secretary of State Marco Rubio to think about ordering the closure of some diplomatic places of work.
The evaluation comes as bilateral tensions construct over safety cooperation and cartel violence, and it follows the deaths of two American CIA officers after a counter-narcotics operation in northern Mexico final month.
A State Division official mentioned the evaluation is a part of a broader effort to align U.S. international coverage with the Trump administration’s priorities.
Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for world public affairs, mentioned the “Division of State is consistently reviewing all features of American international relations to make sure they’re in step with the President’s America First international coverage agenda and advance American pursuits.”
Mexico maintains the biggest international consular community in america, with places of work that present documentation and authorized help to tens of millions of Mexican residents dwelling throughout the nation. Most are concentrated in border states and cities with massive Mexican American populations, together with California, Texas and Arizona.
In recent times, U.S. consulate closures have normally mirrored rising tensions with rival nations quite than routine diplomatic adjustments. In 2020, as relations between Washington and Beijing worsened, the Trump administration ordered China’s consulate in Houston to shut, citing issues over espionage and mental property theft. In 2017, the U.S. ordered Russia to shut its consulate in San Francisco, together with diplomatic amenities in Washington and New York, in response to Moscow expelling American diplomats.
Tensions between the U.S. and Mexico spiked final month following the deaths of two American officers — later confirmed by CBS Information to have been working for the CIA — who died alongside two Mexican investigators after their automobile crashed in a distant mountain area the place authorities had been concentrating on suspected drug laboratories.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson introduced the deaths of two embassy employees members in a submit on X on April 19.
The operation rapidly stoked political controversy, after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum mentioned the American officers might not have had authorization from the federal authorities to function within the nation and publicly demanded explanations from the Trump administration.
The dispute has widened in current days, because the U.S. introduced drug trafficking and weapons costs towards prime Mexican political figures and issued a number of extradition requests, together with one for Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya.
Sheinbaum mentioned this week that Mexico’s International Ministry despatched a diplomatic word to Washington requesting proof from the U.S. Justice Division relating to the allegations towards Rocha and different senior officers, saying Mexico’s Legal professional Normal’s Workplace would examine if credible proof was offered.
Rocha denied the accusations, calling them false, and mentioned he would quickly depart workplace to deal with his protection and cooperate with Mexican authorities because the case proceeds.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico later mentioned combating corruption and transnational organized crime stays a shared precedence for each governments. Whereas declining to touch upon the precise allegations, the embassy mentioned corruption that allows organized crime “shall be investigated and prosecuted wherever U.S. jurisdiction applies.”
The diplomatic strife comes amid an expanded CIA counternarcotics push below Director John Ratcliffe, who has sought to advance a key Trump administration precedence by deepening intelligence-sharing and coaching with Mexican antidrug items and has included surveillance drone flights over Mexico concentrating on cartel operations.
The rising U.S. function has fueled debate in Mexico over its sovereignty and safety cooperation with the Trump administration, particularly as President Trump has repeatedly floated taking unilateral army motion towards cartels.
The CIA declined to remark.
CBS Information has reached out to the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C., for remark.
Margaret Brennan
contributed to this report.
