More than two dozen drug cartel suspects have been extradited back to the United States, including the man charged in the 1985 slaying of a U.S. drug agent.
According to NBC News, 29 people accused of violence and drug trafficking are now back in U.S. custody after Mexican officials agreed to send them to the United States. These individuals were deported back to the U.S. after the Trump administration has turned up the pressure on Mexico to curb illegal immigration, cartel activity, and fentanyl distribution with a promised 25% tariff on all Mexican imports beginning March 4th.
Ray Donovan, the former chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement, "For those of us who have investigated Mexican cartels for many generations, this is truly a historical moment. We have never seen this many sent from Mexico to the U.S. in one day."
Among those deported by Mexico is Rafael Caro Quintero, who U.S. officials believe is responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and others. Quintero has been on the DEA's most-wanted fugitive list for four decades. Acting DEA Administrator Derek S. Maltz said, "Today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served."
The suspects sent back to the U.S. include members of five of six Mexican organized crime groups the Trump administration designated in February as "foreign terrorist organizations." Those sent to the U.S. were taken from prisons across Mexico to board planes at an airport north of Mexico City that took them to eight U.S. cities.
Among them were two leaders of the now-defunct Los Zetas cartel, Mexicans Miguel Treviño and his brother Omar Treviño Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42. U.S. authorities have accused the brothers of running the successor Northeast Cartel from prison.
Besides Quintero, there were cartel leaders, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, cartel finance operatives, and a man wanted in connection with the killing of a North Carolina sheriff's deputy in 2022. According to prosecutors in both countries, the men sent to the United States on Thursday faced charges related to drug trafficking and in some cases homicide, among other crimes.
U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi said in a statement, "We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers and in some cases, given their lives, to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels." In exchange for delaying tariffs, President Donald Trump had insisted that Mexico crack down on cartels, illegal immigration, and fentanyl production.
Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said that since negotiations with the Trump administration began, he had expected the U.S. government to demand three things: an increase in drug seizures, arrests of high-profile drug trafficking suspects, and the handing over of drug traffickers to the United States has long targeted for extradition.
He called Thursday's removals "an important concession" by Mexico's government. Saucedo said that the decision also threatens to upend an unwritten understanding with notable exceptions, that Mexican drug lords would serve sentences in Mexican prisons, where they were often able to continue to run their illicit businesses.
He said, "There will surely be a furious reaction by the drug trafficking groups against the Mexican state."
According to NBC News, 29 people accused of violence and drug trafficking are now back in U.S. custody after Mexican officials agreed to send them to the United States. These individuals were deported back to the U.S. after the Trump administration has turned up the pressure on Mexico to curb illegal immigration, cartel activity, and fentanyl distribution with a promised 25% tariff on all Mexican imports beginning March 4th.
Ray Donovan, the former chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement, "For those of us who have investigated Mexican cartels for many generations, this is truly a historical moment. We have never seen this many sent from Mexico to the U.S. in one day."
Among those deported by Mexico is Rafael Caro Quintero, who U.S. officials believe is responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and others. Quintero has been on the DEA's most-wanted fugitive list for four decades. Acting DEA Administrator Derek S. Maltz said, "Today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served."
The suspects sent back to the U.S. include members of five of six Mexican organized crime groups the Trump administration designated in February as "foreign terrorist organizations." Those sent to the U.S. were taken from prisons across Mexico to board planes at an airport north of Mexico City that took them to eight U.S. cities.
Among them were two leaders of the now-defunct Los Zetas cartel, Mexicans Miguel Treviño and his brother Omar Treviño Morales, known as Z-40 and Z-42. U.S. authorities have accused the brothers of running the successor Northeast Cartel from prison.
Besides Quintero, there were cartel leaders, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, cartel finance operatives, and a man wanted in connection with the killing of a North Carolina sheriff's deputy in 2022. According to prosecutors in both countries, the men sent to the United States on Thursday faced charges related to drug trafficking and in some cases homicide, among other crimes.
U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi said in a statement, "We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers and in some cases, given their lives, to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels." In exchange for delaying tariffs, President Donald Trump had insisted that Mexico crack down on cartels, illegal immigration, and fentanyl production.
Mexican security analyst David Saucedo said that since negotiations with the Trump administration began, he had expected the U.S. government to demand three things: an increase in drug seizures, arrests of high-profile drug trafficking suspects, and the handing over of drug traffickers to the United States has long targeted for extradition.
He called Thursday's removals "an important concession" by Mexico's government. Saucedo said that the decision also threatens to upend an unwritten understanding with notable exceptions, that Mexican drug lords would serve sentences in Mexican prisons, where they were often able to continue to run their illicit businesses.
He said, "There will surely be a furious reaction by the drug trafficking groups against the Mexican state."
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