Mexico extradited 26 senior cartel figures wanted by the United States as part of a deal with Washington.
The transfer is the second such move since President Donald Trump took office, with Mexico previously extraditing 29 cartel leaders in February. Mexico acquiesced to the transfer on the condition that the Department of Justice wouldn’t pursue the death penalty against them.
The Mexican government said the 26 criminals were “wanted for their links to criminal organizations for drug trafficking, among other crimes, and represented a permanent risk to public security.”
A person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that among those extradited was Abigael González Valencia, a leader of the Jalisco New Generation-aligned group Los Cuinis. He was arrested in 2015 and has been fervently fighting extradition.
Robert Salazar, accused of taking part in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, was also transferred.
The group was flown into the U.S. on Tuesday.
The move comes as Trump contemplates aggressive military action against the cartels, a major campaign promise. On Friday, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to strike drug cartels in Mexico that had been labeled foreign terrorist organizations, one of his more unorthodox campaign promises. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quickly ruled out the prospect.
“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said during a press conference the same day.
“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table,” Sheinbaum continued, adding that the Mexican government was informed of the executive order directing the military to act but insisted that “it had nothing to do with the participation of any military or any institution on our territory. There is no risk that they will invade our country.”
Despite her defiance, Mexico would have few means to resist if the U.S. did invade. Long riddled by corruption, the Mexican military has almost no air force or navy to speak of. Its army is woefully inadequate, having no proper tanks and little to effectively resist the largest military in history. Sheinbaum’s one avenue is cooperation and flattery, a strategy she has used much to her advantage to handle Trump.
HEGSETH SAYS HE’S ‘NOT TIPPING’ HIS HAND ON US TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO MEXICO
Tuesday’s extraditions are another way for Sheinbaum to show that she’s willing to fully cooperate with the U.S. but doesn’t support direct military intervention.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth didn’t rule out a direct deployment of U.S. troops into Mexico, saying he wasn’t tipping his hand as to what course of action the U.S. would take when asked. A direct military intervention would be more likely to take the form of targeted drone strikes against cartel leaders or drug labs, a strategy not previously pursued in the U.S.’s war on drugs.