Even though his country does not get involved in U.S. immigration policies, Esteban Moctezuma Barragán said Mexico is committed to providing help and resources for Mexicans who are deported.
By María Ramos Pacheco
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
As President Donald Trump pushes immigration enforcement, Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, said such decisions are a matter of U.S. sovereignty.
“It’s something we don’t have an opinion on and don’t get involved in,” Moctezuma Barragán told The Dallas Morning News Tuesday.
Even so, he said Mexico is committed to providing help and resources for Mexicans who are deported.
Moctezuma Barragán, appointed in 2021 by former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, traveled this week to Dallas as part of a routine visit to the Mexican Consulate in Dallas and San Antonio to meet with business and university leaders.
As part of his visit, he planned to stop at Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities to assess the needs of Mexican nationals. The Dallas ICE field office was on his itinerary, but it was closed because of the inclement weather.
In San Antonio, he will visit the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center.
ICE detention centers conditions
While visiting other detention centers across the country, Moctezuma Barragán said he has seen detainees are treated fairly and under good conditions.
He said he spoke with detainees who seem to have personal and psychological problems due to the complicated situation they are facing, but he said the overall treatment by ICE is good.
“Many of them say, ‘Well, I’d rather go back to Mexico now,’ and they work with the authorities to make their return to Mexico faster, through voluntary means,” Moctezuma Barragán said.
He said about 150,000 people have used the program Mexico te Abraza, which began last year to help citizens rebuild their lives after being deported.
The program provides a monetary stipend to help people reach their final destination. It also offers a workforce network to help them find a job that matches their skills, as well as assistance in obtaining basic documentation, such as an ID or birth certificate, if needed.
Community leaders and elected officials have been sounding the alarm about the conditions at ICE detention centers. This month, two undocumented immigrants died in a detention center in El Paso.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, died Jan. 14 at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss base in El Paso. ICE said in a news release he died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.
On Jan. 3, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, of Cuba, was pronounced dead “after experiencing medical distress,” ICE said. The Associated Press reported a fellow detainee said at least five officers were restraining the handcuffed inmate and at least one had an arm around his neck. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide in the autopsy report released Jan. 21.
U.S troops into Mexico
Trump has offered to send U.S. troops into Mexico to stop cartels from sending drugs to the U.S. and has threatened military action to curb cartel violence.
Moctezuma Barragán said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum refused these offers, emphasizing concerns over Mexico’s sovereignty despite intense pressure from the Trump administration over fentanyl and immigration.
He told The News the Mexican government is collaborating with the U.S. by sharing information on a logistical level.
“Now, moving from that cooperation and collaboration to some kind of direct involvement on the ground, in the territory, is something that Mexico has always said it is not willing to do,” Moctezuma Barragán said. “So it is not going to happen.”
Moctezuma Barragán said that, despite ongoing issues related to security and immigration, Mexico’s commercial and economic relationship with the U.S. grew about 5% in 2025.
María Ramos Pacheco is a bilingual reporter who covers neighborhood issues, environmental justice and all things city of Dallas-related for The Dallas Morning News.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
