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.

Featured Fact-check

Threads posts

stated on January 20, 2025 in a post

Second lady Usha Vance “will have her citizenship revoked if (President Donald) Trump signs his executive order banning birthright citizenship.”

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.