Mexico has asked the United States for evidence of cross-border shootings allegedly targeting American security personnel.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum explained at a regular press conference on Monday that the United States had reported “shooting from the Mexican border.”
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“We asked for all the evidence because there was no evidence,” Sheinbaum said. He added that the Mexican National Guard, Army and Navy had not detected any shots fired toward the United States from Mexican territory.
Scheinbaum’s comments came a day after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson posted on social media platform
Prime Minister Johnson said the target was a member of the US Coast Guard and that the threat would be “quickly addressed”.
“The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is assisting the U.S. Coast Guard in coordinating with Mexican military forces deployed to the border area where the shots were fired,” Johnson wrote.
“Together, we will patrol both sides of the border, protect communities, and make it harder for criminal and terrorist organizations to operate.”
About 500 U.S. soldiers have been sent to the border since the alleged shooting, along with helicopters, drones and anti-drone equipment.
Mexico sent its own troops to the border area as part of a joint operation called “Operation Mirror” between the two countries to secure the border.
At a news conference Monday, Sheinbaum acknowledged that the deployment to Mexico was designed to “preempt any problems” that might arise.
During their time working together, Johnson and Sheinbaum have repeatedly clashed over issues of border security and national sovereignty.
Johnson, a former U.S. Army Green Beret who later worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has been serving as U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Mexico since May 2025.
Since returning to office for a second term, President Trump has sought to increase U.S. influence in Latin America as part of a policy informally known as the Don Roe Doctrine, a twist on the 19th century Monroe Doctrine.
The administration is also taking a more active role in regional security, primarily in the fight against drug trafficking and criminal organizations.
President Trump has repeatedly said he may launch military strikes inside Mexico to attack the cartels that are “running Mexico,” and has characterized the existence of cartels as a threat to U.S. national security. But Sheinbaum warned that such an operation would violate his country’s sovereignty.
Tensions between Mexico and the Trump administration have strained relations with Johnson. Mr. Sheinbaum accused the ambassador of violating diplomatic norms, and Mr. Johnson tried to persuade the Mexican government to cooperate with Mr. Trump’s demands.
In June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson criticized the Sheinbaum government on social media for turning the “fight against cartels” into a “political conflict.”
Mr. Sheinbaum responded the next day, warning Mr. Johnson that “ambassadors must respect their country’s internal affairs.”
U.S. and Mexican law enforcement have long cooperated on counter-drug efforts, but President Trump’s militaristic approach has caused friction with left-wing governments, including Mexico’s.
Mr. Sheinbaum on Monday criticized Mr. Johnson for announcing the opening of an international police academy in the central state of Queretaro without the government’s knowledge.
“Why is the groundbreaking ceremony attended by the U.S. ambassador and the governor of Mexico and not the federal security cabinet?” she said.
Under Mexico’s constitution, the federal government must authorize foreign military operations within Mexican territory.
But the law was put to the test earlier this year when two CIA agents were reportedly killed in an April car crash in Mexico’s northern state of Chihuahua, along with a member of the state’s law enforcement agency.
What the CIA agents were doing in Chihuahua remains unclear. Reports have surfaced that CIA agents may have been participating in state-led raids on local drug labs without federal authorization.
A state official publicly denied the report, saying officials had conducted unrelated training in the use of drones.
Sheinbaum said he and his cabinet members had no knowledge of the CIA’s activities and that the government had promised to investigate the incident.
