Mexico reached a deal with the United States to hand over 26 top cartel leaders.
The cartel figures were scheduled to fly to the U.S. on Tuesday.
“Today is the latest example of the Trump administration’s historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News. “These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country. We are grateful to President Sheinbaum and the Mexican government for their collaboration in this matter.”
Abigael González Valencia, a leader of the “Los Cuinis,” cartel, which is aligned with the notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) and Roberto Salazar, who is accused of participating in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy, are among those being handed over to the U.S.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office and Security Ministry confirmed the men were being handed over, saying the deal was made after the U.S. Justice Department said it wouldn’t seek the death penalty.
President Donald Trump has also reportedly secretly authorized U.S. military force against cartels in Latin America designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, which would allow U.S. forces to engage with them.
The move, reported by the New York Times, would give U.S. forces permission to engage the cartels, which traffic drugs like fentanyl across the US-Mexico border,
“The president is determined to not just dismantle – but completely destroy – [Venezuelan dictator Nicolas] Maduro’s Cartel de Los Soles and obliterate their operations in the Western Hemisphere,” a source close to the White House said, the New York Post reported.
The anti-cartel effort is being coordinated among several departments, including the Department of Defense, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Treasury, the source added.
“President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations,” deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News.
It also comes ahead of 25% tariffs on Mexican goods coming into the U.S. imposed by Trump.
Mexico also extradited 29 cartel leaders in February, including Rafael Caro Quintero, who prosecutors say was behind the torture and murder of a DEA agent in 1985.
“The previous Administration allowed these criminals to run free and commit crimes all over the world. The Trump Administration is declaring these thugs as terrorists, because that is what they are, and demanding justice for the American people,” the White House said at the time.
