Mexico seeks evidence of border shooting that prompted US troop deployment

Mexico’s Sheinbaum has expressed concern about US officials overstepping norms on security cooperation.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace in Mexico City on September 28 [File: Mario Guzman/EPA]

Mexico has asked the United States for evidence of a cross-border shooting that allegedly targeted US security personnel.

In her daily news conference on Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum explained that the US had reported “shots from the Mexican border”.

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“We asked for all the evidence because we have no evidence,” Sheinbaum said. She added that Mexico’s National Guard, Army and Navy had not detected any shots being fired from Mexican territory towards the US.

Sheinbaum made her remarks a day after the US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson wrote on the social media platform X about the shooting, which allegedly took place in Texas across from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas in late September.

Johnson said the targets were members of the US Coast Guard, and that the threat would be “swiftly addressed”.

“The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is helping coordinate with Mexican forces deploying to the border area where U.S. Coast Guardsmen were fired upon,” Johnson wrote.

“Together, we intend to patrol both sides of our shared border, protect our communities, and make it more difficult for criminal and terrorist organizations to operate.”

Some 500 US troops, along with helicopters, drones and anti-drone equipment, have been sent to the border since the alleged shooting.

Mexico has sent its own deployment in the border area, as part of a joint operation called Operation Mirror between the two countries to secure the frontier.

In Monday’s news conference, Sheinbaum confirmed that the Mexican deployment was designed “to forestall any issues” that may arise.

During their time working together, Johnson and Sheinbaum have repeatedly been at odds over questions of border security and national sovereignty.

A former US Army Green Beret who later served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Johnson has served as ambassador to Mexico since May 2025, under US President Donald Trump.

Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has sought to increase US influence over Latin America, as part of a policy informally dubbed the Donroe Doctrine — a twist on the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine.

His administration has also taken a more active role in the region’s security, on the premise of combatting narcotics trafficking and criminal organisations.

Trump has repeatedly said he may carry out military strikes inside Mexico to attack the cartels he said are “running Mexico”, framing their presence as a threat to US security. Sheinbaum, however, has warned that such an operation would violate her country’s sovereignty.

Mexico’s tensions with the Trump administration have strained relations with Johnson. Sheinbaum has accused the ambassador of overstepping diplomatic norms, while Johnson has sought to push the Mexican government to cooperate with Trump’s demands.

In June, Johnson criticised Sheinbaum’s government on social media for turning the “fight against cartels” into a “political dispute”.

Sheinbaum responded the next day with a warning for Johnson, saying, “Ambassadors must respect the internal political affairs of their countries.”

Law enforcement agencies in the US and Mexico have long cooperated in counter-narcotics operations, but Trump’s militaristic approach has created friction with left-wing governments including Mexico.

On Monday, Sheinbaum took issue with Johnson for announcing the opening of an international police academy in the central state of Queretaro without her government’s knowledge.

“How can a groundbreaking ceremony take place with a US ambassador and a Mexican governor, but not with the federal security cabinet?” she said.

Under the Mexican constitution, the federal government must approve the activities of foreign forces on Mexican soil.

But that law was tested earlier this year, when two CIA agents were reportedly killed in an April car accident in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, alongside members of the state’s law enforcement.

What the CIA agents were doing in Chihuahua remains unclear. Reports emerged that the CIA agents may have been participating in a state-led raid on a local drug lab without federal authorisation.

One state official publicly denied that report, saying the agents were conducting an unrelated training on drone usage.

Sheinbaum said neither she nor her cabinet were informed of any CIA activities, and her government pledged to investigate the incident.

墨西哥总理谢因鲍姆对美国官员在安全合作方面越权表示担忧。

9月28日，墨西哥总统克劳迪娅·欣鲍姆在墨西哥城国家宫发表讲话。[图片：Mario Guzman/EPA]

墨西哥已要求美国提供证据，证明发生了一起据称以美国安全人员为目标的跨境枪击事件。

墨西哥总统克劳迪娅·欣鲍姆在周一的每日新闻发布会上解释说，美国报告称“墨西哥边境传来枪声”。

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“我们要求提供所有证据，因为我们没有任何证据，”谢因鲍姆说。她补充说，墨西哥国民警卫队、陆军和海军都没有探测到任何从墨西哥领土向美国方向发射的炮火。

谢因鲍姆发表上述言论的前一天，美国驻墨西哥大使罗纳德·约翰逊在社交媒体平台X上发文谈及这起枪击事件。据称，这起枪击事件发生在9月下旬，地点位于德克萨斯州，与墨西哥塔毛利帕斯州隔河相望。

约翰逊表示，袭击目标是美国海岸警卫队成员，并将“迅速应对”这一威胁。

约翰逊写道：“美国驻墨西哥大使馆正在协助墨西哥军队部署到边境地区，此前美国海岸警卫队人员在那里遭到枪击。”

“我们将共同巡逻我们共同边界的两侧，保护我们的社区，并加大犯罪和恐怖组织的活动难度。”

自枪击事件发生以来，约有 500 名美军士兵以及直升机、无人机和反无人机设备被派往边境。

墨西哥已向边境地区派遣了自己的部队，这是两国为确保边境安全而开展的名为“镜像行动”的联合行动的一部分。

在周一的新闻发布会上，谢因鲍姆证实，墨西哥的部署旨在“防止”可能出现的任何问题。

在共事期间，约翰逊和谢因鲍姆在边境安全和国家主权问题上屡次发生分歧。

约翰逊曾是美国陆军特种部队“绿色贝雷帽”成员，后来在中央情报局（CIA）任职。自2025年5月以来，他一直在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的领导下担任美国驻墨西哥大使。

自特朗普连任以来，他一直致力于扩大美国对拉丁美洲的影响力，这项政策被非正式地称为“唐罗主义”，是19世纪门罗主义的一种变体。

他的政府也在打击毒品贩运和犯罪组织方面，在地区安全方面发挥了更加积极的作用。

特朗普曾多次表示，他可能会对墨西哥境内目标发动军事打击，以打击他所说的“控制墨西哥”的贩毒集团，并将这些集团的存在视为对美国安全的威胁。然而，谢因鲍姆警告说，这样的行动将侵犯美国主权。

墨西哥与特朗普政府的紧张关系导致美方与约翰逊的关系也变得紧张。谢因鲍姆指责约翰逊大使越权行事，而约翰逊则试图敦促墨西哥政府配合特朗普的要求。

6 月，约翰逊在社交媒体上批评谢因鲍姆政府将“打击卡特尔”变成了“政治争端”。

第二天，谢因鲍姆向约翰逊发出警告，称“大使必须尊重本国的内部政治事务”。

美国和墨西哥的执法机构长期以来在禁毒行动中开展合作，但特朗普的军事化做法与包括墨西哥在内的左翼政府产生了摩擦。

周一，谢因鲍姆对约翰逊宣布在克雷塔罗州开设一所国际警察学院一事提出异议，因为约翰逊事先并未告知她的政府。

她说道：“为什么奠基仪式可以有美国大使和墨西哥州长出席，却没有联邦安全内阁成员参加？”

根据墨西哥宪法，外国军队在墨西哥领土上的活动必须获得联邦政府的批准。

但今年早些时候，这条法律受到了考验。据报道，4 月份在墨西哥北部奇瓦瓦州发生的一起车祸中，两名中央情报局特工和该州执法人员丧生。

中央情报局特工在奇瓦瓦州的活动仍然不明。有报道称，这些特工可能参与了一次由州政府主导的、针对当地一家制毒窝点的突袭行动，而没有获得联邦政府的授权。

一名州政府官员公开否认了该报道，称这些特工当时正在进行与无人机使用无关的培训。

谢因鲍姆表示，她和她的内阁成员均未被告知任何中央情报局的活动，她的政府承诺将调查此事。