This remarkable display of security cooperation follows the Trump administration's threat to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports beginning Tuesday.
Feb. 28, 2025, 8:59 AM GMT+6
More than two dozen suspected members of Mexican drug cartels—including the man accused of orchestrating the 1985 murder of a U.S. drug agent—are now in U.S. custody after Mexican authorities agreed to their extradition, four sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
A total of 29 individuals facing charges related to violence and drug trafficking were deported as the Trump administration ramped up pressure on Mexico to curb illegal immigration, cartel activity, and fentanyl production. This move comes ahead of a planned 25% tariff on all Mexican imports set to take effect next week.
“For those of us who have investigated Mexican cartels for many generations, this is truly a historic moment," said Ray Donovan, former chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration. "We have never seen this many suspects sent from Mexico to the U.S. in a single day.”
Among those extradited is Rafael Caro Quintero, accused of masterminding the 1985 killing of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Caro Quintero, who had been on the DEA's most-wanted fugitives list for four decades, was arrested in Mexico in 2022 after years of evading capture.
"Today, we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States, where justice will be served,” said acting DEA Administrator Derek S. Maltz.
The suspects handed over include members of five of the six Mexican organized crime groups that the Trump administration recently designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
On Thursday, these individuals were transferred from prisons across Mexico to an airport north of Mexico City, where they boarded planes bound for eight U.S. cities, according to Mexican officials.
Among them were two key figures of the now-defunct Los Zetas cartel: Miguel Treviño Morales and his brother, Omar Treviño Morales, also known as Z-40 and Z-42. U.S. authorities have accused the pair of continuing to lead the successor Northeast Cartel from behind bars.
The extradition of the Treviño Morales brothers marks the conclusion of a prolonged process that began with Miguel’s arrest in 2013, followed by Omar’s capture in 2015. Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero had previously called the delays in their extradition “truly shameful.”
In addition to Caro Quintero, the list of extradited individuals includes cartel leaders, financial operatives, security chiefs from both factions of the Sinaloa cartel, and a suspect wanted in connection with the 2022 killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy.
One of the most prominent figures handed over is Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, former leader of the Juárez cartel and brother of the infamous drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes—known as "The Lord of the Skies"—who died in a botched plastic surgery operation in 1997.
According to prosecutors in both the U.S. and Mexico, those extradited face charges including drug trafficking and homicide.
“We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law, in honor of the brave law enforcement officers who have dedicated their careers—and, in some cases, given their lives—to protecting innocent people from the violence of drug cartels,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement.
The extradition coincided with a visit to Washington by Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente and other top economic and military officials, who met with U.S. counterparts, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
President Trump had made the crackdown on cartels, illegal immigration, and fentanyl production a key condition for delaying the implementation of new tariffs, despite reports of declining migration and overdose rates over the past year.
Mexico’s decision to extradite one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives was the result of weeks of negotiations.
Caro Quintero, the former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, was originally sentenced to 40 years for the 1985 abduction and murder of DEA agent Camarena, a crime that strained U.S.-Mexico relations. However, he was released in 2013 after serving 28 years when a court overturned his sentence.
Following his release, he resumed drug trafficking and waged bloody turf wars in the northern Mexican state of Sonora until his 2022 arrest. The U.S. quickly requested his extradition, but the process stalled under then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had scaled back Mexico’s cooperation with the DEA in response to U.S. undercover operations targeting senior Mexican officials.
“This moment is deeply personal for the men and women of the DEA,” said Maltz.
Mexican security analyst David Saucedo noted that the Trump administration had likely demanded three key actions from Mexico: increased drug seizures, arrests of major traffickers, and the extradition of high-profile cartel figures long sought by the U.S.
He called Thursday’s extraditions “a significant concession” by Mexico’s government.
However, the move could also disrupt an unwritten agreement that allowed drug lords to serve sentences in Mexican prisons, where they often maintained control over their operations. Breaking this norm, Saucedo warned, could provoke retaliation from cartel leaders.
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