Adopt a “sovereign Mexico” policy

What has happened

1. Sep 3, 2025 Partially done

   A bilateral framework aimed at restoring Mexican state control now exists, though it is not framed as the Quote frames it. The joint statement issued during Secretary Rubio's visit rests security cooperation on “reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility” and commits both governments to dismantle transnational organized crime through their own national institutions, with a standing high-level implementation group to follow up. The group met on 2025-09-26 (launching Mission Firewall against southbound arms trafficking) and again in December 2025 and January 2026. This is the United States working to strengthen Mexican sovereignty in fact; no policy of a “fully sovereign Mexico” has been declared, and the administration's other Mexico instruments — cartel terrorist designations, tariffs, visa restrictions — are framed as protecting the United States.

   • Joint Statement on Security Cooperation between the United States and Mexico — cooperation “based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”, establishing a high-level implementation group

     Primary Executive branch Sep 3, 2025

   • State Department: First Meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Security Implementation Group Launches Mission Firewall

     Primary Executive branch Sep 27, 2025

2. Jan 20, 2025 Attempted

   The Mandate's diagnosis was adopted at the top of the administration's first day, but its objective was not. Executive Order 14157 finds that the cartels have “infiltrat[ed] … foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere” and that “in certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society” — the premise of a “sovereign Mexico” posture. The policy the order then states is narrower: “the total elimination of these organizations' presence in the United States and their ability to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States”, protecting American territorial integrity rather than restoring Mexico's.

   • Executive Order 14157, Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists: “In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities, controlling nearly all aspects of society”

     Primary Executive branch Jan 20, 2025