Left: Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum delivers a speech on the day of the Independence Day parade in Mexico City, Mexico, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril
Right: US President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Peterbilt Motors in Denton, Texas, US, October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is asking the Trump administration for proof after U.S. officials claimed that U.S. service members were fired upon from Mexico.
“We asked for all the evidence because we have no evidence,” Sheinbaum said Monday during her daily news conference, just one day after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson claimed U.S. Coast Guardsmen were “fired upon” near the Rio Grande in Texas.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sept. 26, with U.S. Coast Guard service officials telling Stars and Stripes last week that the initial gunshots came from the Mexican side.
The incident comes as tensions between Sheinbaum and Johnson remain high. As noted by Al Jazeera, the Trump administration has threatened to carry out military strikes inside Mexico to target cartels, and Johnson “has sought to push the Mexican government to cooperate with [President Donald] Trump’s demands.”
“The fight against cartels should unite us, not divide us,” Johnson wrote in a social media post on X in June. “Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge into a political dispute is a missed opportunity to strengthen our partnership and protect the people we serve.”
Sheinbaum fired back at Johnson the next day during her daily news conference, demanding the Trump appointee respect Mexico’s sovereignty.
“It is also very important, and I say this respectfully, to remember that ambassadors should focus on coordination and collaboration,” Sheinbaum said. “Ambassadors must respect the internal political affairs of their countries.”
Since the alleged shooting, the United States has sent some 500 troops to the border, according to Mexico News Daily. Relations were already strained by an April car crash in Chihuahua that reportedly killed two CIA agents, and Sheinbaum said her government was never informed of their activities in the country.