- 📉 Quintana Roo security gains: The daily homicide rate in Quintana Roo dropped 79% in February compared to the final month of the AMLO administration, and 68% year-over-year. Security Minister García Harfuch reported more than 3,200 arrests for high-impact crimes in the state since Sheinbaum took office.
- 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 Mexican teen dies in ICE custody: Sheinbaum called the death of 19-year-old Royer Pérez Jiménez — an Indigenous Maya man from Chiapas who died at a Florida detention center on March 16 — “very sad.” She said Mexico sent a diplomatic letter to Washington on Thursday, with a “much stronger” one to follow Friday. ICE listed the cause as presumed suicide; Mexico is demanding a full investigation.
- 🇩🇪 Sheinbaum meets German president in Cancún: Trade, investment and scientific cooperation dominated Thursday’s meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Sheinbaum noted that nearly 2,000 German companies already operate in Mexico, and flagged the upcoming May signing of the updated EU-Mexico trade agreement. Steinmeier extended an invitation to visit Germany.
Why today’s mañanera matters
President Claudia Sheinbaum held her Friday morning press conference in Cancún, the Caribbean coast resort city in Quintana Roo that is one of Mexico’s most popular tourism destinations and a key gateway to the country.
The federal government took the opportunity to highlight that the daily homicide rate in Quintana Roo in February (0.43) was 79% lower than in September 2024 (2), the final month of the six-year term of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and 68% lower than in February 2025.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported that since Sheinbaum took office in October 2024, more than 3,200 people have been arrested in Quintana Roo for allegedly committing high-impact crimes.
While the security situation in the Caribbean coast state was a significant component of the president’s mañanera, Sheinbaum also looked northeast to the state of Florida, where a young Mexican man died in ICE custody this week.
She lamented the death of the 19-year-old Indigenous Maya man, and reiterated that her government will do all it can to protect and stand up for the rights of Mexicans abroad, including those living (or who have died) in the United States as the Trump administration carries out an aggressive detainment and deportation agenda targeting undocumented immigrants.
The Friday morning press conference gave the president the opportunity to show that her government is focused not just on the well-being and security of Mexicans in Mexico’s 32 federal entities, but is also committed to supporting los paisanos (compatriots) who live beyond the country’s borders.
Sheinbaum’s remarks about her meeting on Thursday with the president of Germany added to the international focus of her final mañanera of the week.
Sheinbaum: Death of Mexican teen in ICE custody is ‘very sad’
Sheinbaum said that the death of a 19-year-old Mexican man in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is “very sad.”
She said that her government sent a “diplomatic letter” to the U.S. government about the case on Thursday and will send “a much stronger” one on Friday.
“The report is that the young man committed suicide. However, we want a thorough investigation,” Sheinbaum said.
“This can’t be happening,” she added.
In a statement dated March 18, ICE reported the death of Royer Pérez Jiménez in the Glades County Detention Center in Florida.
ICE said that Pérez — reportedly from an Indigenous community in Chiapas — was “a criminal illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested and charged with felony fraud for impersonation and resisting an officer.”
It said that he passed away in the early hours of Monday, March 16.
“At approximately 2:34 a.m., a Glades County detention officer on duty found Pérez unconscious and unresponsive. They immediately called a medical emergency in the dormitory and staff started cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” ICE said.
“Two medical personnel responded a couple of minutes later, determined Pérez to be without a pulse, and took over CPR. They requested emergency medical services. At approximately 2:42 a.m., Moore Haven Fire Rescue EMS arrived at the Glades County Detention Center and initiated life-sustaining interventions on Perez,” the agency said.
“He died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.”
ICE said that Pérez was arrested in Florida in January and entered the United States on Feb. 19, 2022, but was detected by the U.S. Border Patrol and returned to Mexico on the same date. It said that Pérez “illegally reentered” the U.S. on an unknown date.
The Miami New Times reported that the 19-year-old “appears to be the youngest person to die in ICE custody since President Donald Trump took office again in January 2025, according to ICE records.”
He appears to be the youngest person to die in ICE custody since the start of President Trump’s second term.https://t.co/Cmzf1zIQfv pic.twitter.com/6HwDRqDIvh
— Miami New Times (@miaminewtimes) March 19, 2026
The newspaper wrote that “on January 22, Pérez was arrested by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and charged with impersonation and resisting an officer, both misdemeanors, according to an arrest report obtained by New Times (although ICE’s statement characterized the impersonation charge as a felony).”
“Police say they tried to pull Pérez over while he was riding a scooter because he was crossing traffic lanes without using a crosswalk. But he allegedly refused to stop and gave officers multiple false names,” the New Times reported.
“According to the report, Pérez eventually told police he had ‘overstayed his visa and is currently in the United States illegally,’ and said he had no documentation to prove his name or date of birth.”
Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) published a statement on Thursday, in which it said it would “pursue all diplomatic and legal avenues” following the death of Pérez in ICE custody.
“The Mexican government reiterates that such deaths are unacceptable and again demands a prompt and thorough investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding this death, determine accountability, and put in place effective guarantees of non-recurrence,” the ministry said.
“The Mexican Consulate General in Miami activated its consular protocol, visited the [ICE detention] facility, and will continue working to provide support and assistance to the family,” the SRE said.
“Mexico has requested the reports and documentation needed to establish the full facts of the case, and U.S. authorities have confirmed that an investigation is underway. Mexico will take the necessary diplomatic steps to urge the U.S. federal government to address the conditions that facilitate such incidents. All available legal avenues will be pursued to ensure the family receives full support,” it said.
Sheinbaum endorsed the SRE message on Friday morning, saying that her government would express its discontent with the death of a Mexican national in ICE custody through “all means.”
Trade a key focus of Sheinbaum’s meeting with German president
Sheinbaum said that Mexico’s “trade and economic relationship” with Germany was a key focus of her meeting in Cancún on Thursday with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“You know that in May the update of the trade agreement with the European Union will be signed,” she said.
“And there is a lot of interest [in Mexico] from German companies,” Sheinbaum added.
“There are close to 2,000 German companies with investments in Mexico and there is a lot of interest in continuing to invest,” she said.
Sheinbaum said she also spoke to Steinmeier about “scientific and cultural cooperation,” and about “technological innovation, which is very important.”
In addition, she said that she and the German head of state discussed “the international situation” and agreed that it is “essential to seek peace in the world and make progress on cooperation for development.”
“Those were the big issues,” Sheinbaum said, adding that Steinmeier — a former vice chancellor of Germany and foreign minister — is “a man of a lot of international experience.”
“He has been part of different groups to build peace in Europe and the whole world. He has been president of Germany for practically 10 years and he invited us to go to Germany,” she said.
“We’ll wait and see if we’ll make a trip,” Sheinbaum said.
The president’s office noted in a statement that she received Steinmeier at the Maya Museum of Cancún on Thursday.
Sheinbaum was accompanied by her foreign affairs, finance, economy and energy ministers.
Steinmeier previously visited Mexico in September 2022, at which time he met with then president López Obrador.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
