Kari Lake Being Considered for Mexico Ambassador: Reports

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering Kari Lake for the role of U.S. ambassador to Mexico, according to the online news outlet Semafor.

Lake, a firm ally of Trump, has long been supportive of his false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. She lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race and the 2024 Senate election, both times alleging, without evidence, that her defeats were the result of election fraud.

Despite her political involvement, Lake lacks any formal diplomatic experience. She has been a vocal critic of U.S.-Mexico border issues and has advocated for stricter border security measures throughout her career. A former news anchor, Lake received Trump's endorsement for both of her failed campaigns for state office in Arizona.

In November, Lake lost her bid for the Arizona Senate seat to Democratic Senator-elect Ruben Gallego. Gallego won by 2.4 percentage points, a closer margin than anticipated based on pre-election polls. Throughout her Senate campaign, Lake made immigration policy a central issue, aligning her stance on border security with Trump's. She has previously referred to the influx of migrants into the U.S. as an "invasion."

Lake has championed policies like completing the southern border wall, increasing the number of judges to handle asylum cases, fast-tracking deportations of undocumented immigrants crossing outside official points of entry, and building additional border detention centers.

Should Trump nominate Lake as ambassador to Mexico, her confirmation would require approval from the Senate, where she could afford to lose only three Republican votes, assuming no Democrats support her nomination.

Ahead of November's Senate race, Lake discussed immigration policies with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, stating, "In January of '25, when President Trump is elected, and I'm elected in the Senate, we're going to use that CBP One app the other way. We're going to find out who came in and we're going to send them back to their homeland." She added, "In order to save our homeland, they got to go back to theirs."

As U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Lake would be tasked with overseeing relations between the two countries, especially in areas such as migration, counternarcotics, and implementing Trump's promise of tariffs on Mexican imports. The ambassador would work closely with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, on these pressing issues.

Trump's second term bid was heavily influenced by his pledge to enact mass deportations and initiate a strict crackdown on illegal immigration. He also threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada unless those nations took more robust action against illegal drugs like fentanyl and illegal immigration.

Following Trump’s November victory, he and Sheinbaum had a conversation, but their accounts differed. Trump claimed Sheinbaum agreed to stop migration through Mexico to the U.S., effectively closing the southern border. In contrast, Sheinbaum told the press that Mexico had never planned to close its border with the U.S.