US State Department Will Review Mexico’s 53 Consulates

ByRoxana González

This article by Roxana González originally appeared in the May 7, 2026 edition of El Sol de México.

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

The review comes at a time of rising bilateral tensions over security cooperation and cartel violence, as well as the deaths of two US CIA agents following a drug raid in Chihuahua last month.

According to the US news network, a State Department official stated that the review is part of a broader effort to align US foreign policy with the priorities of the Trump administration.

Dylan Johnson, Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, stated that “the State Department constantly reviews all aspects of U.S. foreign relations to ensure they are consistent with the President’s ‘America First’ foreign policy agenda and that they advance U.S. interests.”

[Mexico’s] Secretariat of External Relations (SRE) was contacted to confirm the information, but so far the agency headed by Roberto Velasco has not responded.

Mexico has the largest foreign consular network in the United States, with offices that provide documentation and legal assistance to millions of Mexican citizens living throughout the country. Most are concentrated in border states and cities with large Mexican-American populations, such as California, Texas, and Arizona.

According to CBS News, in recent years, the closure of US consulates has generally reflected increased tensions with rival countries, rather than routine diplomatic changes.

In 2020, amid deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing , the Donald Trump administration ordered the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, citing concerns about espionage and intellectual property theft.

In 2017, the United States ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, along with diplomatic facilities in Washington and New York, in response to Moscow’s expulsion of US diplomats.