los angeles — The Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles assists thousands of citizens every week, helping them register births, obtain passports and, increasingly since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, obtain legal assistance for loved ones who have fallen foul of his administration’s immigration policies.
Although they serve the largest Mexican community in the country, all 53 Mexican consulates in the United States provide services that make the lives of Mexican people easier — just as the nine U.S. consulates in Mexico work to improve the lives of Americans south of the border.
But the US State Department did so Launched a review This could lead to the closure of an unknown number of Mexican consulates. Although it did not say why, the review is taking place against the backdrop of an immigration crackdown, some thorny bilateral issues and far-right theories that the consulates are interfering in American politics and encouraging Mexicans to migrate north.
Azucena Aviles, a 33-year-old mother who drove more than an hour to the Los Angeles consulate this month to renew her Mexican passport and get one for her daughter, said consular services are invaluable, especially in California, which is home to nearly 13 million people of Mexican descent, including Estimated at 1.7 million Who are in the United States illegally.
“It wouldn’t be fair for them to mess with the Mexican people, especially with our support systems, which come from the Mexican consulate and which, in some way, help or protect our fellow Mexicans,” she said.
Trump made an effort Increasing pressure on MexicoWith looming questions over issues including human rights, national sovereignty and regional diplomacy.
However, his administration has offered only the broadest explanations for initiating the review.
“The State Department continually reviews all aspects of U.S. foreign relations to ensure they are consistent with the President’s America First foreign policy agenda and advance American interests,” Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, wrote in an email.
One possible reason for the review is that it could somehow fit into the Trump administration’s immigration efforts to deport people in the United States illegally. The largest group of these people — an estimated 4.3 million people, according to the Pew Research Center — are Mexicans.
Relations between the two countries could also play a role, as Trump increases pressure on Mexico in the run-up to free trade negotiations important to both economies, takes a more aggressive approach toward the United States’ southern neighbor, and even threatens military action against Mexican cartels.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has avoided direct conflicts with Trump and has relied instead on diplomacy, including sending senior officials to Washington and seeking to maintain a strong relationship with the Trump administration by cracking down on Mexican cartels. Sheinbaum and her predecessor were also key allies of Immigration to the United States slows and expedite the deportation of other immigrants from Latin America.
But Sheinbaum took a firmer stance Mexican deaths In immigration detention centers in the United States, he called them “unacceptable” and said that conditions in such detention “contrary to human rights standards and the protection of life.” Mexican consulates were ordered to visit detention centers daily to help ensure detained citizens are held in safe conditions.
Relations have deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks after the United States charged a number of Mexican officials with drug trafficking Two CIA officers died Following an anti-drug operation in northern Mexico – American involvement, which Sheinbaum said was her government He did not give permission. That drug raid raised uncomfortable questions in Mexico about the extent of U.S. involvement in homeland security operations. Years of tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries have also increased tensions.
Reviews of foreign consulates “are usually a sign that bilateral relations are going through a very difficult moment,” said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States. In Mexico’s case, he added, this comes “at the worst moment in U.S.-Mexico relations” in decades, given all the current points of contention.
Further straining relations is a theory amplified by Peter Schweitzer, a writer with a following among Trump loyalists who has claimed that Mexican consulates are interfering in American politics and encouraging immigration to the United States. Although some Mexican consular officials may have sought to influence politics back home, there is no evidence they interfered in the U.S. election, experts say.
In response to the review of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs… Sheinbaum The idea that Mexican consulates “do politics in the United States is completely false,” he said. She said the mission of consulates anywhere is to “always protect citizens.”
Sarukhan also said that although the consulates defend the rights of Mexican citizens, there is no evidence that they interfere in US elections.
Whatever the reasons for the consulate’s review, it raised concerns.
During a weekly public forum at the Los Angeles consulate, an unnamed woman whose husband was detained in a U.S. immigration detention center asked for help finding an attorney for him, highlighting one of the important services consulates provide to their citizens.
Meanwhile, an older man said he had heard about the review and asked about potential closures.
Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Mexico’s top diplomat in Los Angeles, responded, saying, Sheinbaum said, “there would be absolutely no reason” for the United States to close a Mexican consulate.
In fact, closing the consulates “would have significant and devastating impacts on Mexican immigrants,” especially in isolated areas, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told The Associated Press.
Every day, consular officials go to the ICE detention center in downtown Los Angeles to identify and interview as many detained Mexican nationals as possible.
Gonzalez Gutierrez, 62, begins each weekly public forum by noting how many detained Mexican consular officials he has interviewed since then. Immigration campaign in Los Angeles last June. At the May 11 meeting, the number reached 1,940. Nearly half of them have deep roots in the United States, he said. About 46% were deported, 35% had children born in the United States, 69% entered the country through a port of entry, 6% overstayed a visa, and 2.5% sought asylum. Most were men, and many worked in construction, agriculture, horticulture, and the service industry.
He also questioned the claim that Mexican consulates are interfering in American politics.
“We are guests of the government of this country, just as U.S. consuls are guests of the Mexican government,” said Gonzalez Gutierrez, who has held similar roles at other Mexican consulates in the United States. “In this sense, we are neither activists nor spies. We do our work openly, within a pluralistic and democratic society.”
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Janetsky reported from Mexico City.