PHOENIX — Eighteen Mexican citizens have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or during immigration enforcement operations since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, including two in Arizona, the Mexican government says, KJZZ’s Fronteras Desk reported.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said it has sent 22 letters to state and county prosecutors’ offices in the United States about those deaths: eight to state attorneys general and 14 to county prosecutors.
So far, Mexico says, it has received 11 responses.
The ministry said it has been in repeated contact with county prosecutors in Texas and California, where Mexican nationals have died. That includes the Texas county where an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston this summer, a case that drew outrage from the community.
In Arizona, two Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody since January 2025, according to the report.
The letters come as immigration enforcement has stepped up in Arizona, including arrests at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. KJZZ separately reported that an attorney for two Argentine performers detained at the airport last weekend said targeted airport arrests are on the rise. ICE said that work authorization or a pending application “does not grant legal status in the United States.”
ICE did not immediately comment on Mexico’s figures in the KJZZ report.
Sources: KJZZ Fronteras Desk, KJZZ. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: usicegov / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
