Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum didn’t say the U.S. should ‘stop electing’ criminals

President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, tariffs and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America have caused tense relations with Mexico. Some social media users claimed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum retaliated with a snide remark.

A Feb. 15 Facebook post shared an image with photos of Trump and Sheinbaum and a purported exchange between the two presidents.

“I just had a conversation with President Sheinbaum of Mexico. She will stop rapists and criminals from coming here,” Trump supposedly said.

In response, Sheinbaum supposedly responded, “I told President Trump the best way to make rapists and criminals feel unwelcome in the U.S. is for their citizens to stop electing them.”

Other users on Facebook and Instagram also shared this supposed exchange. These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screenshot from Instagram)

But Sheinbaum didn’t say this.

PolitiFact reviewed Sheinbaum’s press conferences and public statements since Trump took office Jan. 20 and found no evidence she said this. We also found no credible news reports about this purported exchange.

The Mexican president’s social communications team told Reuters that Sheinbaum did not make this statement. PolitiFact contacted Sheinbaum’s office, but received no response before publication.

We’ve fact-checked other fake quotes attributed to Sheinbaum related to Trump and the border wall.

We rate the claim that Sheinbaum said, “I told President (Donald) Trump the best way to make rapists and criminals feel unwelcome in the U.S. is for their citizens to stop electing them,” False.

By

Sara Swann

Digital Research Analyst

February 19, 2025

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• PolitiFact reviewed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s public statements and found no evidence that she said this.

• We also found no credible news reports about this purported exchange between Sheinbaum and President Donald Trump.

Statement

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said, “I told President (Donald) Trump the best way to make rapists and criminals feel unwelcome in the U.S. is for their citizens to stop electing them.”

Context

a post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Facebook posts

Statement Date

February 15, 2025