Mexico transfers 26 cartel figures wanted by US authorities in deal with
Trump administration
[August 13, 2025]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MARÍA VERZA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the
United States Tuesday in the latest major deal with the Trump
administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal
networks smuggling drugs across the border.
Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a
leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel
Jalisco New Generation or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is
wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County
sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa
Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups.
The transfers are a milestone for the Trump administration, which is
made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key Justice Department
priority. It’s the second time in months that Mexico has expelled cartel
figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid
mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of
drugs onto American streets.
“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,” Attorney
General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s
National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”
The cartel figures were put on planes to the U.S. after the Justice
Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the
defendants or against any cartel leaders and members sent to the U.S. in
February. That transfer was of 29 cartel figures, including drug lord
Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in
1985.
“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two
governments stand united against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador
to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in a statement. “These fugitives will now
face justice in U.S. courts, and the citizens of both of our nations
will be safer from these common enemies.”
The February transfers came as Mexican officials were trying to head off
the Trump administration’s threat of imposing tariffs on Mexican
imports. Late last month, President Donald Trump spoke with Mexico
President Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs
for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.
Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to cooperate more on security than her
predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s
cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s
sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention
by the U.S. military.
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The letters "CJNG" for the group's formal name, Jalisco New
Generation Cartel, covers the facade of an abandoned home in El
Limoncito, in the Michoacan state of Mexico, Oct. 30, 2021. (AP
Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Also included in the group expelled Tuesday was Servando Gómez
Martinez, also known as “La Tuta,” a former school teacher who
became one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights
Templar cartel. He was captured in 2015 and sentenced to 55 years in
a Mexican prison in June 2019.
Gomez led the quasi-religious criminal group that once exercised
absolute control over Michoacan and he liked to appear in interviews
and videos. The cartel orchestrated politics, controlled commerce,
dictated rules and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God
and family, even as it murdered and plundered.
Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader
Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the
U.S. government. Abigael González Valencia was arrested in February
2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and had been fighting extradition
to the United States since then. The U.S. government has offered a
reward of up to $15 million for information leading to “El Mencho's”
arrest or conviction.
Alongside his two brothers, Abigael González Valencia led “Los
Cuinis,” which financed the the founding and growth of the CJNG, one
of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics
hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the
United States and other countries and is known for extreme violence,
murders, torture, and corruption.
One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in
Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a U.S. prison
after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose
González Valencia was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump
administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with
his family under a fake name.
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Verza reported from Mexico City
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