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LOS ANGELES — <\/span>Mexico’s consulate in Los Angeles helps thousands of citizens each week, assisting them with registering births, obtaining passports and, increasingly since President Donald Trump’s second term began, accessing legal help for loved ones who have fallen afoul of his administration’s immigration policies.<\/p>\n Although it serves the country’s biggest Mexican community, all 53 Mexican consulates in the U.S. provide services that make Mexican people’s lives easier \u2014 just like the nine U.S. consulates in Mexico improve the lives of Americans south of the border.<\/p>\n The U.S. State Department, though, has launched a review<\/a> that might lead to the closure of an unknown number of Mexican consulates. Although it hasn’t said why, the review is happening against the backdrop of the immigration crackdown, some thorny bilateral issues and far-right theories that the consulates have been interfering in U.S. politics and encouraging Mexicans to migrate northward.<\/p>\n Azucena Aviles, a 33-year-old mother who drove more than an hour to the LA consulate this month to renew her Mexican passport and get one for her daughter, said consular services are invaluable, especially in California, which is home to nearly 13 million people of Mexican descent, including an estimated 1.7 million<\/a> who are in the U.S. illegally.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be fair if they messed with the Mexican people, especially with our support systems, which come from the Mexican consulate and which, in some way, help or protect our fellow Mexicans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Trump has been exerting growing pressure on Mexico<\/a>, with questions looming over issues including human rights, national sovereignty and regional diplomacy.<\/p>\n His administration, though, has given only the broadest of explanations for launching its review.<\/p>\n \u201cDepartment of State is constantly reviewing all aspects of American foreign relations to ensure they are in line with the President\u2019s America First foreign policy agenda and advance American interests,\u201d Dylan Johnson, Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, wrote in an email.<\/p>\n Among the possible reasons for the review is that it could somehow fit into the Trump administration’s immigration efforts to deport people in the U.S. illegally. The largest contingent of such people \u2014 an estimated 4.3 million, according to the Pew Research Center \u2014 are Mexican.<\/p>\n Relations between the two countries could also play a role, with Trump increasing pressure on Mexico in the run-up to free trade negotiations important to both nations\u2019 economies, taking a more aggressive approach toward the U.S.’s southern neighbor and even threatening to take military action against Mexican cartels.<\/p>\n Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has avoided head-on conflicts with Trump and instead relied on diplomacy, including sending top officials to Washington and seeking to maintain a strong relationship with the Trump administration by cracking down on Mexican cartels. Sheinbaum and her predecessor have also been key allies in slowing migration to the U.S.<\/a> and speeding up the deportation of other Latin American migrants.<\/p>\n But Sheinbaum has taken a firmer stance in regards to the deaths of Mexicans<\/a> in U.S. immigration detention centers, calling them \u201cunacceptable\u201d and saying the conditions in such lockups were \u201cincompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.\u201d She instructed Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily to help ensure detained citizens are being held in safe conditions.<\/p>\n Relations rapidly deteriorated in recent weeks after the U.S. indicted several Mexican officials on drug trafficking charges, and two CIA officers died<\/a> following an anti-narcotics operation in northern Mexico \u2014 American involvement that Sheinbaum said her government hadn’t authorized<\/a>. That drug raid raised uncomfortable questions in Mexico about the extent of U.S. involvement in domestic security operations. And years of tit-for-tat tariffs between the two countries have also added strain.<\/p>\n A review of foreign consulates is \u201cusually a sign that a bilateral relationship is in a very, very rocky moment,\u201d said Arturo Sarukhan, a former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. In Mexico\u2019s case, it comes at \u201cthe worst moment of the U.S.-Mexico relations\u201d in decades, given all the current points of contention, he said.<\/p>\n Further straining relations is a theory being amplified by Peter Schweizer, a writer with a following among Trump loyalist who has claimed that Mexican consulates interfere in U.S. politics and encourage migration to the U.S. Experts say that although a few Mexican consulate officials may have sought to influence politics back home, there is no evidence of them interfering in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n In response to the State Department review, Sheinbaum<\/a> said the idea that Mexican consulates are \u201cplaying politics in the United States is completely false.\u201d She said the job of consulates anywhere is to \u201calways protect\u201d citizens.<\/p>\n Sarukhan, too, said that although consulates defend the rights of Mexican citizens, there is no evidence that they are interfering in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n Whatever the reasons for the consulate review, it has stoked worries.<\/p>\n During a weekly public forum at the LA consulate, a woman who didn’t give her name and whose husband had been in U.S. immigration detention asked for help finding him a lawyer, highlighting one crucial service consulates provide for their citizens.<\/p>\n An older man, meanwhile, said he had heard about the review and asked about possible closures.<\/p>\n Carlos Gonz\u00e1lez Guti\u00e9rrez, Mexico\u2019s top diplomat in Los Angeles, responded that, as Sheinbaum said, there would be \u201cno reason whatsoever\u201d for the U.S. to close a Mexican consulate.<\/p>\n Indeed, closing consulates \u201cwould have significant, devastating effects for Mexican immigrants,\u201d especially in isolated areas, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n Every day, consular officials go to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding center in downtown LA to identify and interview as many detained Mexican nationals as they can.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez Guti\u00e9rrez, 62, begins every weekly public forum by noting how many detained Mexicans consular officials have interviewed since last June’s Los Angeles immigration crackdown<\/a>. At that May 11 meeting, the figure stood at 1,940. Nearly half had deep roots in the U.S., he said. About 46% have been deported, 35% have children born in the U.S., 69% entered the country through a port of entry, 6% overstayed a visa, and 2.5% requested asylum. Most were men, and many worked in construction, agriculture, gardening and the service industry.<\/p>\n He also disputed the claim that Mexican consulates are interfering in U.S. politics.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are guests of this country\u2019s government, just as U.S. consuls are guests of the Mexican government. In that sense, we are neither activists nor spies,\u201d said Gonz\u00e1lez Guti\u00e9rrez, who has held similar roles at other Mexican consulates in the U.S. \u201cWe carry out our work openly, within a pluralistic and democratic society.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Janetsky reported from Mexico City.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n