Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Saturday that she had rejected a proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump to deploy American troops into Mexico to combat drug cartels.
Speaking at a public event, Sheinbaum confirmed that during a series of recent phone calls, Trump pressed for permission to send U.S. forces into Mexican territory. “I told President Trump that Mexico’s territory is inalienable, our sovereignty is inalienable,” she said.
A report published by The Wall Street Journal on Friday revealed that Trump had repeatedly urged Sheinbaum to allow U.S. military operations against cartels during calls held throughout the past month.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump had floated the idea of using U.S. military force unilaterally if Mexico failed to confront the cartels—an idea that caused considerable alarm among Mexican officials after his election victory in November.
While Sheinbaum declined the military request, bilateral cooperation between Washington and Mexico City has deepened since Trump returned to office in January. In February, Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican troops to the northern border in an effort to stem fentanyl smuggling and restrict migrant flows toward the United States.
Mexico has also extradited dozens of suspected cartel members to the United States for prosecution.
On Friday, the Trump administration established a second U.S. military zone along the southern border. Under the new framework, American troops are authorized to detain migrants who cross the border illegally and transfer them to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel.
The establishment of military zones is part of Trump’s broader border security initiative launched shortly after his inauguration. Despite the rejection of cross-border troop deployment, the White House praised the progress on border security during a Saturday briefing but did not comment on Mexico’s rejection of Trump’s proposal.