Trump aide Stephen Miller wants Mexico to stop its own citizens at the border

Washington's drive to tighten control of the southern border has acquired an unusual new target: Mexican citizens travelling within their own country. According to Bloomberg's reporting, Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller is driving a demand for Mexico to stop its own nationals from travelling towards the US border, going beyond the administration's broader call for Mexico to do more to intercept migrants from other countries.

The distinction is significant. Mexico's Constitution guarantees citizens the right to move freely throughout the country. A policy aimed at preventing Mexicans from travelling north — including workers commuting to factories in border states — would put President Claudia Sheinbaum in an immediate legal quandary.

A demand that breaks with precedent

The request emerged during the first in-person meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Aug. 26. Publicly, the two sides described the meeting as a routine security discussion focused on joint efforts to combat trafficking. Privately, sources told Bloomberg that the conversation went further. Rubio pressed for broader migration enforcement, but the more pointed demand — restricting the movement of Mexican nationals — came specifically from Miller.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry has repeatedly described security cooperation with Washington through its diplomatic principle of "coordination without subordination" — a position that takes on a different meaning when such a demand is placed on the table.

Why Washington is pushing now

The timing follows a genuine shift at the border. Overall irregular migration through Mexico has fallen sharply since Trump's second term began, but CBP data for July shows Border Patrol apprehensions rising to 9,295 — roughly double the 4,592 recorded in July 2025, which had been the lowest monthly figure of the administration. The reversal appears to have intensified US demands, even as Mexican officials point to their own enforcement record, including a sharp increase in firearm seizures and the killing in February of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho."

Immigration lawyers on both sides of the border say a policy restricting the internal movement of Mexican citizens would create a practical problem: distinguishing ordinary travel — such as workers heading north for factory jobs or families visiting relatives — from attempts to cross illegally would be nearly impossible without some form of discriminatory profiling.

A relationship under strain on several fronts

The border dispute is only one part of a broader breakdown in relations. US prosecutors have indicted Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other current and former officials on drug-trafficking and weapons charges linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Rocha Moya's status has changed twice since the April indictment: he took a leave of absence in May, briefly returned to office on Aug. 21, then requested a second, indefinite leave 34 hours later amid opposition from members of his own Morena party. Sinaloa's Congress swore in Graciela Domínguez Nava as interim governor on Aug. 25.

Washington has also revoked the US visas of more than 50 politicians linked to Mexico's ruling Morena party. Mexico is still seeking answers about an alleged unauthorised CIA operation at a drug laboratory in Chihuahua that Sheinbaum says her government was not informed about. Mexico has separately pressed Washington over the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals in ICE custody or during enforcement operations, while Trump has repeatedly floated unilateral military action against cartels on Mexican soil — a proposal Sheinbaum has rejected outright.

Trade talks add financial pressure

All of this is unfolding alongside a stalled trade review. The US and Mexico are scheduled to hold a fourth round of USMCA negotiations in Washington this month. The talks remain deadlocked over a US demand that vehicles contain 50% US-specific content to retain preferential tariff access, while Mexico wants relief from existing tariffs of 25% on automobiles and 50% on steel and aluminium first. The three USMCA partners also missed their July 1 deadline to agree on a straightforward extension, meaning the pact now faces annual reviews through 2036 instead of automatic renewal.

Sheinbaum's narrow path forward

Sheinbaum has so far avoided a direct confrontation with Trump, presenting her position as firm but non-confrontational while accusing Washington of interfering in Mexico's affairs. Mexican officials say they have received conflicting signals from different parts of the Trump administration — a dynamic that The Atlantic has reported separately. However, the specific description of which US officials are taking a harder or softer line could not be independently confirmed for this article and should be checked against the original reporting before publication.

Whether Sheinbaum's government can absorb a demand to police the movement of its own citizens without triggering a domestic backlash may become clearer after this month's trade talks. For now, migration, trade and security disputes between the two countries are becoming increasingly difficult to treat as separate issues.

What it could mean for families crossing the border

For Mexican families with relatives on both sides of the border, the consequences are practical rather than abstract. New internal checkpoints or travel restrictions in Mexico could delay legal crossings for work, education and family visits even before any formal policy is announced — a concern migration advocates say is already influencing how they monitor the talks.

Originally published on Latin Times