On May 31 local time, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered a stern rebuke at a political rally in Mexico City, accusing the United States of meddling in Mexico’s sovereign domestic affairs through judicial indictments and extradition demands, and stressing firmly that Mexico, as an independent sovereign state, will never accept foreign interference.

The dispute originated on April 29 this year, when the US Department of Justice filed charges against ten incumbent and former Mexican civil servants including Rubén Rocha Moya, Governor of Sinaloa State. The US side alleged the accused officials colluded with the Sinaloa drug cartel to smuggle narcotics into the US and were implicated in illegal arms possession, kidnapping and other serious crimes. Affected by the US indictment, Governor Rocha Moya announced temporary leave on May 1 to cooperate with probes by Mexico’s local procuratorial organs. Later, the US asked Mexican authorities to arrest and extradite the ten Mexican citizens involved, covering state governors, mayors and senators across different political ranks.

In her rally speech, Sheinbaum cast doubt on Washington’s underlying motives. She argued the US used anti-drug cooperation as a disguise to advance its domestic political agenda: US far-right groups leverage the case to drum up public opinion for the 2026 US midterm congressional elections, while attempting to sway Mexico’s 2027 congressional elections by judicial coercion. From Mexico’s perspective, letting a foreign country decide its citizens’ guilt and forcing extradition goes far beyond regular international law-enforcement cooperation and amounts to blatant infringement on national sovereignty.

The diplomatic row is linked to an earlier incident: shortly before the US filed extradition applications, two CIA agents without official authorization to conduct operations in Mexico died in a traffic accident during an anti-narcotics operation in northern Mexico. The Mexican government has demanded official explanations from Washington over the unauthorized entry, deepening bilateral distrust between the two nations.

Against rising domestic calls to fend off foreign meddling, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies passed a constitutional amendment on May 28. Under the new rule, election outcomes proven to be manipulated by foreign powers can be nullified legally, forming an institutional safeguard against outside interference from a legislative perspective. Long troubled by divergences over anti-drug campaigns and border management, the US-Mexico bilateral conflict over sovereignty has intensified sharply amid the latest US judicial charges.