Overview
- The State Department, which launched the review Thursday, said it is aligning diplomacy with President Trump’s 'America First' agenda.
- Officials say the process could shut some offices, which would disrupt passports, IDs, and legal aid that Mexico’s large U.S. consular network provides to millions of people.
- The reassessment follows an April counternarcotics operation in Chihuahua that left two U.S. officials, later reported as CIA employees, and two Mexican investigators dead, after which President Claudia Sheinbaum questioned whether the Americans had authorization to operate in Mexico.
- Tensions deepened after the Justice Department unsealed charges against current and former Mexican officials, including Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, as Mexico’s Foreign Ministry requested U.S. evidence and Rocha denied the allegations and said he would step aside to mount a defense.
- Sheinbaum told reporters the consulates do not pursue political goals in the U.S. and said she has not received formal notice of a review, while past U.S. closures of Chinese and Russian consulates show Washington sometimes uses such moves to apply pressure.