At her Wednesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that her government is afraid of cartels.

On the day she was named as one of “the 100 most influential people of 2025” by Time magazine, she also spoke about the United States’ security maneuverings both north and south of the Mexico-U.S. border.

Mexico sends diplomatic note to US 

A reporter asked the president about the United States’ reported plan to establish a military base on its southern border with Mexico.

The question came after United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum traveled to New Mexico on Tuesday to “announce the emergency withdrawal and transfer” to the U.S. Army “of administrative jurisdiction over approximately 109,651 acres of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border,” according to a Department of the Interior statement.

“… The Department of the Army requested the withdrawal and transfer of these lands on an emergency basis to allow for the increase in regular patrols by federal personnel, construction of infrastructure to prevent unlawful entry, disrupt foreign terrorist threats to the U.S., and to curb illegal cross-border activities, such as unlawful migration, narcotics trafficking, migrant smuggling, and human trafficking,” the statement said.

Citing information from U.S. officials, the Associated Press reported on Monday that “a long sliver of federal land along the U.S.-Mexico border that President Donald Trump is turning over to the Department of Defense would be controlled by the Army as part of a base, which could allow troops to detain any trespassers, including migrants.”

Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that her government was speaking to its U.S. counterpart about its plans for the border region.

She told reporters that Mexico has also sent a diplomatic note to the United States, in which she said her government acknowledges that what the U.S. does “in its own territory” is “a decision for them,” but also expresses its expectation that U.S. military actions won’t “cross the border” and that there will continue to be “the same collaboration there has been until now in security matters.”