The more than two dozen high-profile cartel leaders Mexico handed over to the United States on Tuesday include one wanted in the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government’s decision to hand over the 26 prisoners into U.S. custody has to do with her country’s security, not tariff negotiations with the United States
“These are sovereign decisions,” Sheinbaum said.
But Mexico is under pressure from the Trump administration, which is threatening a 30% tariff on Mexican goods.
One of the prisoners handed over to face prosecution in the United States is Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, also known as “Cuini,” a leader of a drug cartel that shares the same name. Others are aligned with the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, which the Trump administration earlier this year designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
Most of the cartel figures Mexico handed over this week face up to life in prison in the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department. They face charges in federal courts including drug-trafficking, kidnapping and money laundering. None face the death penalty, which Mexico’s security secretary, Omar García Harfuch, said was a condition of the handover.
García Harfuch said six of the prisoners touched down in Phoenix this week.
