Cartel family members entered US after deal with Trump administration, Mexico says
Massive reward for information on Mexican cartel
The Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INM) is offering up to $8 million for information that leads to the arrest and convictions of two brothers believed to be connected to a Mexican cartel.
More than a dozen family members of Mexican cartel leaders entered the United States last week as part of a deal from the Trump administration.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed a media report that family members of Ovidio Guzman Lopez, who was extradited to the United States in 2023, had entered the U.S.
Guzmán Lopez is one of the brothers left running a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel after notorious capo Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was imprisoned in the U.S. Video showed the family members walking across the border from Tijuana with their suitcases to waiting U.S. agents.
Cartel’s family members enter US
What we know:
García Harfuch confirmed the 17 family members' crossing in a radio interview and said it was clear to Mexican authorities that they were doing so after negotiations between Guzmán López and the U.S. government.
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He believed that was the case because the former cartel boss, whose lawyer said in January he had entered negotiations with U.S. authorities, had been pointing fingers at members of other criminal organizations likely as part of a cooperation agreement.
FILE - U.S.-Mexico border crossing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on April 5, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
He said that none of the family members were being pursued by Mexican authorities and that the government of U.S. President Donald Trump "has to share information" with Mexican prosecutors, something it has not yet done.
What we don't know:
U.S. prosecutors declined to comment on the video of the family entering the U.S. from Tijuana.
What they're saying:
"It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or an offer that the Department of Justice is giving him," Garcia Harfuch said.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California and other officials sent a warning to cartel members, repeatedly citing the Sinaloa Cartel by name. They haven’t mentioned that cartel family members are being allowed into the United States.
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"Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California," Gordon said.
The backstory:
Rumors had circulated last week that the younger Guzmán would plead guilty to avoid trial for several drug trafficking charges in the U.S. after being extradited in 2023.
The confirmation that family members entered the U.S. came the same day that the U.S. Attorney General's Office announced it was charging a number of top cartel leaders with "narcoterrorism" for the first time since the Trump administration declared a number of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press.