State Department Reviews All 53 Mexican Consulates in the United States

The State Department is initiating a review of all 53 Mexican consulates operating in the United States, a U.S. official told CBS News on Thursday. The review could lead Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider ordering the closure of some diplomatic offices.

The review comes as bilateral tensions build over security cooperation and cartel violence. It follows the deaths of two American CIA officers after a counter-narcotics operation in northern Mexico last month. A State Department official said the review is part of a broader effort to align U.S. foreign policy with the Trump administration's priorities.

" Mexico maintains the largest foreign consular network in the United States. The offices provide documentation and legal aid to millions of Mexican citizens living across the country and are concentrated in border states and cities with large Mexican American populations, including California, Texas and Arizona.

In recent years, U.S. consulate closures have usually reflected rising tensions with rival countries rather than routine diplomatic changes. In 2020 the Trump administration ordered China's consulate in Houston to close, citing concerns over espionage and intellectual property theft.

In 2017 the U.S. ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco along with diplomatic facilities in Washington and New York.

Asked about the State Department's plan to review consulates, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters she had no information on it. " Tensions between the U.S. and Mexico spiked last month following the deaths of two American officials, later confirmed by CBS News to have been working for the CIA.

They died alongside two Mexican investigators after their vehicle crashed in a remote mountain region where authorities were targeting suspected drug laboratories. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced the deaths of two embassy staff members in a post on X on April 19.

The operation stoked political controversy after Sheinbaum said the American officers may not have had authorization from the federal government to operate in the country and publicly demanded explanations from the Trump administration.

The dispute has widened in recent days as the U.S. announced drug trafficking and weapons charges against top Mexican political figures and issued multiple extradition requests. Sheinbaum said this week that Mexico's Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to Washington requesting evidence from the U.S. Justice Department regarding the allegations against senior officials, saying Mexico's Attorney General's Office would investigate if credible evidence was provided.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico later said combating corruption and transnational organized crime remains a shared priority for both governments. " The diplomatic strife comes amid an expanded CIA counternarcotics push that has included surveillance drone flights over Mexico targeting cartel operations.

The CIA declined to comment.