Mexico is taking legal action against the United States. That is a big legal move. Mexico filed 20 legal complaints this month. The complaints cover 17 Mexicans. ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. All 17 people died during ICE raids or while locked up in ICE jails.

The deaths happened since January 2025. That is when President Trump started his second term. Fourteen people died inside ICE jails. Three died during ICE stops or raids out in the field.

One case stands out. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a longtime Houston man. He was 52 years old. An ICE agent shot and killed him during a raid on July 7. The Harris County coroner ruled his death a homicide. A homicide means someone caused the death. He died from a gunshot wound to his torso.

ICE says Salgado tried to run. Agents say he used his van as a weapon against an officer. But witnesses say ICE has it wrong. The group LULAC says the video does not match ICE's story.

Mexican Ambassador Roberto Lazzeri filed the 20 complaints on July 13. Eight went to state prosecutors. Twelve went to county prosecutors. Prosecutors are the lawyers who decide if someone gets charged with a crime. The complaints were filed in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas. That is a lot of ground to cover. Mexico sent a separate complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice the next day.

President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the plan on July 9. She said Mexico could not just talk anymore. "We must raise our voices when there are human rights violations against our fellow citizens," she said. She called the deaths an issue for all Mexicans.

Mexico is not stopping at U.S. courts. Mexico's foreign affairs office sent a letter to the United Nations on July 14. Roberto Velasco Alvarez signed it. He asked the U.N.'s top human rights leader, Volker Turk, to look into the deaths. He wants the U.N. to check if the U.S. is playing by world human rights rules.

The Department of Homeland Security pushed back. DHS says there is no jump in jail deaths. DHS says its death rate stayed at 0.008 percent of people held, as of late May. But a study in the medical journal JAMA found a new number. That April study found the death rate in ICE jails hit 88.9 per 100,000 people this year. That is the highest rate in 22 years.

Mexico sent Washington 11 protest letters before this. Velasco says Mexico does not want a fight with the U.S. But he says Mexico cannot stay quiet either.

Experts say this move raises the tension between the two countries. Tony Payan is a Rice expert. He called it one of the hardest times for the U.S. and Mexico since 1985. Eric Olson, with the Woodrow Wilson Center, said the stakes are higher now than in past fights.

This fight matters here in South Texas. No deaths in the current complaints are confirmed to have happened in the Rio Grande Valley. But ICE has stayed active across South Texas this year. Rules that come from these complaints could reach every state. That means home too.

The complaints are now with local prosecutors. Each office will decide if it will look into the case or file charges. Mexico's U.N. case could take months to move. The story is still going. Mexico has signaled this legal push is not over. El Tejano will keep watching this story as it moves forward.