Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
- 🚆 Interoceanic Railroad “incident”: Sheinbaum said Tuesday’s accident on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec railroad was not a derailment, but rather the freight train “moved.” She said that train cars didn’t fully fall off the tracks. Inspections are underway, and any impact on the planned 2027 passenger service reactivation will be reported later.
- 🕊️ Mexican man’s death in ICE operation acknowledged: Sheinbaum said that a Mexican man killed in Florida on Tuesday after fleeing an ICE operation and being struck by a truck had been identified, but she didn’t release his name. She said the case will be folded into Mexico’s diplomatic efforts and criminal complaints over Mexican deaths tied to ICE.
- 🚫 Migration shouldn’t be criminalized, Sheinbaum says: Responding to Trump’s call for continued immigration traffic stops, the president said her government disagrees with the practice, arguing that while crimes should be pursued, migration itself shouldn’t be treated as one. She noted Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco has raised Mexico’s legal actions with the U.S. ambassador and deputy secretary of state.
- 🤝US-Mexico trade talks set for next week: A USTR delegation will visit Mexico to continue bilateral trade talks, three weeks after the U.S. declined to renew the USMCA for another 16 years. Sheinbaum said Mexico will seek agreements for “greater stability in the coming years.”
Why today’s mañanera matters
Today’s mañanera was significant as President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to incidents of national and international importance.
She commented on a freight train accident on Tuesday on the railroad that connects the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico. While no one was hurt, the accident is a major story in Mexico as it occurred less than seven months after a passenger train derailment on the same railroad in which 14 people were killed and around 100 people were injured.
The railroad — which was modernized during Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s 2018-2024 presidency and allows freight to be moved between the Pacific and Gulf coasts — is supposed to be the crown jewel of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor. However, its status as such is significantly diminished by the two recent accidents.
Sheinbaum also responded to the death of a Mexican man in Florida on Tuesday. The man was fleeing from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and was hit by a truck. His death came just one day after the Mexican government filed criminal complaints in the U.S. in connection with the deaths of 17 Mexicans who have died in ICE detention centers or in ICE operations since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025 and commenced an aggressive deportation campaign.
Sheinbaum responds to another accident on the Interoceanic Railroad
A reporter asked the president what report she was given about the “new derailment” on the Interoceanic Railroad.
The Navy Ministry and the government agency responsible for the railroad said in a statement on Wednesday that an accident involving “two articulated units” of a freight train occurred on Tuesday night. There were no injuries and the accident didn’t have any impact on the local population, according to the statement.
— Ferrocarril Interoceánico (@FInteroceanico) July 15, 2026
The accident, which occurred in the municipality of Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, was widely reported as a derailment.
However, Sheinbaum said that, “rather than a derailment, [the train] moved.”
“The train cars didn’t completely fall, but it was an incident,” she said.
“It was reported yesterday by the Navy and inspections are being carried out,” Sheinbaum said.
Asked whether the accident would have an impact on the “reactivation” of the Interoceanic Railroad passenger train, which is slated for early 2027, the president said the government would report on that at a later date.
Sheinbaum acknowledges death of Mexican fleeing ICE operation in Florida
A reporter asked the president whether a Mexican man hit by a truck in Florida on Tuesday while fleeing an ICE operation had been identified.
Sheinbaum said he had been identified, but didn’t provide his name.
“In an ICE operation, he runs and while crossing a street is run over,” she said.
The Miami Herald reported on Tuesday that a “28-year-old Mexican man died in an apparent traffic accident Tuesday morning following an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents in St. Augustine, marking the third death involving ICE in a week.”
“The man ran away from agents and was hit by a truck, Florida Highway Patrol Master Sergeant Dylan Bryan told the Miami Herald.”
Man dies during immigration encounter in Florida, the third ICE-involved death in a week
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) July 14, 2026
Sheinbaum said that the death of the Mexican man on Tuesday would be incorporated into “the work we’re doing, both in the diplomatic way and in the direct [criminal] complaints.
Asked about Trump’s call for continued immigration traffic stops, the president said her government doesn’t agree with the move.
“If there is a person who committed a crime, he or she must be pursued. But migration in itself shouldn’t be criminalized,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Velasco has directly informed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau about Mexico’s legal actions against ICE-related deaths in the United States.
Sheinbaum noted that she hasn’t recently spoken to Trump, but told reporters that she will raise the issue of ICE-related fatalities when she does.
“I’ve [already] raised it several times — the issue of Mexicans in the United States,” she said.
Mexico-US trade talks scheduled for next week
Sheinbaum noted that a delegation from the Office of the United States Trade Representative will come to Mexico next week to continue bilateral trade talks.
The dialogue will take place three weeks after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that the Trump administration had declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for an additional 16 years. Both Mexico and Canada wanted to extend the three-way pact until 2042.
US tells Mexico it will not renew the USMCA trade agreement
Sheinbaum said that at next week’s talks, Mexico will be aiming to “reach some agreements that give us greater stability in the coming years.”
She reminded reporters that annual revisions of the USMCA are slated to take place in the coming 10 years as a result of the United States’ decision not to renew the pact for an additional 16 years.
“At any time,” Mexico, the United States and Canada can agree to extend the pact for 16 more years, said Sheinbaum, who has attributed the U.S. decision to Trump’s “protectionist vision” while stressing that North American economic integration is “very difficult to break.”
The USMCA governs the bulk of around US $2 trillion in annual trade in North America. While the Trump administration last year imposed tariffs on a range of Mexican goods including vehicles, steel and aluminum, most Mexican products can still enter the U.S. duty-free.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
