In Mexico, dual citizenship is starting to sound like a political liability
Christian Science Monitor · C · trust 75/100
| Fernando Llano/AP Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo gives her state of the nation address at the National Palace in Mexico City, Sept. 1, 2026. Loading...
Sept. 09, 2026, 3:46 p.m. ET | Mexico City
“Why have dual nationality if you’re going to represent the people of Mexico?”
With that question, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo revived an old debate about citizenship and political allegiance, as Mexico considers a ban on dual nationality for anyone aspiring to higher office.
A proposed constitutional change now before the federal legislature would require presidential and gubernatorial candidates to hold only Mexican citizenship.
The Mexican government is weighing a proposal to require anyone running for office to hold only Mexican citizenship. But does citizenship automatically mean loyalty to a country?
The immediate catalyst for the president’s question, posed at an Aug. 25 press conference, was the case of an ex-governor in Mexico who fled to Texas following accusations of his involvement with organized crime and money laundering. Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca has dual U.S.-Mexican nationality, and staying in the U.S. has put him out of reach for Mexican authorities.
Another factor fueling the debate around citizenship and loyalty here in Mexico is the state of the country’s relationship with its neighbor to the north. President Donald Trump has tested ties between the United States and its closest allies, including Mexico and Canada, with steep tariffs and threats of U.S. intervention. That has generated a burst of patriotism and shaped local politics in both countries. A proposed constitutional ban that raises questions about Mexican sovereignty has become a political win at home for President Sheinbaum, who has promised to work with Washington “without subordination,” as she put it.
“The important thing is the defense of the nation and homeland,” said Dr. Sheinbaum, who proposed the constitutional change.
Many Mexicans agree with their president that the reform secures allegiance. But it has stirred deeper conversations about loyalty to one’s homeland, including memories of past leaders in Mexico who have worked against national interests despite holding only one passport.
The proposed reform is “superficial,” news commentator Javier Garza Ramos said in a recent episode of the Mexican current affairs podcast El Noti.
“You could have a governor who is Mexican through and through – born in Mexico, holding no other nationality – and yet he hands over his state’s government to drug traffickers, or passes information to the United States or some other foreign government.”
From the late 1800s and into the mid-20th century, worldwide, holding dual citizenship was “considered a moral abomination, akin to bigamy,” says Peter Spiro, law professor at Temple University and author of “At Home in Two Countries: The Past and Future of Dual Citizenship.”
Citizenship was directly linked to a nation’s military standing, the key indicator of national might at the time. But, by the end of the Cold War, as economic prowess and technology changed how wars were fought, and globalization transformed everything from business to government affairs, many countries started changing rules around dual citizenship, Mr. Spiro says.
David Guttenfelder/AP/File Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori waves to supporters from behind a group of Japanese security guards after delivering a lecture at Takushoku University in Tokyo, Jan. 10, 2002. Mr. Fujimori has both Peruvian and Japanese citizenship. “The [old fashioned] understandings about what citizenship entailed were dissipating, and so, too, were concerns about conflicting loyalties,” he says.
Today many see dual nationality as something positive, or a privilege .
A similar prohibition against dual citizenship has not emerged in other parts of the region since President Trump took office, but some countries have grappled with the question in the past. In 2000, as corruption scandals were closing in on his government, Peru’s then-President Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan, where he was also a citizen. That was widely viewed as a way to evade legal scrutiny.
More recently, Colombia elected its new President Abelardo de la Espriella, who through naturalization also holds U.S. citizenship. On the campaign trail, his adoration for President Trump raised eyebrows about where his loyalty lies.
“I have no doubt that de Espriella would be just as reactionary, just as pro-American, and just as much of a Trump supporter even if he weren’t a U.S. citizen,” Mr. Garza Ramos, the podcaster, said.
During the Cold War, three consecutive Mexican presidents were later shown to have collaborated secretly with the CIA. Each of them – Adolfo López Mateos, Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, and Luis Echeverría – held only Mexican citizenship.
AP/File First lady Jacqueline Kennedy, speaking in Spanish, praises Mexico’s efforts to create a more abundant life for its people as President Adolfo López Mateos of Mexico and President John F. Kennedy stand at her side, in Mexico City, June 30, 1962. Mr. Mateos, later shown to have collaborated secretly with the CIA, held only Mexican citizenship. A 2015 study in Switzerland found there was no difference between how dual citizens and sole-Swiss citizens identified with the country or engaged with politics. The findings challenged the idea that “divided loyalty” is inherent with dual nationals.
But for Irma Cardona, a seamstress waiting for the bus on a drizzly afternoon in central Mexico City, the suggestion that a future Mexican president might hold dual nationality with, say, the United States, makes her eyes widen in shock.
“No, no. It just wouldn’t work,” Ms. Cardona says. “Mexico needs to be led by a Mexican. They can’t have one foot out the door to another country.”
There hasn’t been polling on this specific constitutional reform in Mexico, but a January 2026 survey by El Financiero looked at the issue of…
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