Mexico extradited more than two dozen cartel members to the United States on Thursday as the U.S.’s tariff implementation date approaches. The extradited figures include a cartel boss complicit in the murder and torture of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the move in a statement on Friday.
“Last night, 29 Mexican Cartel Members were extradited to the United States. President Trump directed the Department of Justice and the Department of State to make this happen, and Attorney General Bondi and Secretary of State Rubio did a tremendous job in getting this done,” she said.
“The group of cartel members, who will soon arrive on American soil, includes one of the most evil cartel bosses in the world, Rafael Caro Quintero, who tortured and murdered DEA Agent Kiki Camerena in 1985. The previous Administration allowed these criminals to run free and commit crimes all over the world. The Trump Administration is declaring these thugs as terrorists, because that is what they are, and demanding justice for the American people,” Leavitt added.
The White House’s announcement of the extraditions comes a day after Trump said the scheduled tariffs would be implemented on March 4. The tariffs include a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and all imports, except energy, from Canada.
Trump says neither country has done enough for him to halt the tariff threat completely.
“Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We cannot allow this scourge to continue to harm the USA, and therefore, until it stops, or is seriously limited, the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect, as scheduled.”
He said later on Thursday that the migrant flow into the United States had been interrupted, but he hadn’t seen the same progress on the flow of drugs.
The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that they had taken 29 “wanted defendants from Mexico” into custody.
“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels. We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”
DEA acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz celebrated the capture of Quintero, who is alleged to have tortured and murdered Camerena in 1985.
“This moment is extremely personal for the men and women of DEA who believe Caro Quintero is responsible for the brutal torture and murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena,” Maltz said. “It is also a victory for the Camarena family. Today sends a message to every cartel leader, every trafficker, every criminal poisoning our communities: You will be held accountable. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far you run, justice will find you.”
Other cartel members who have been extradited include Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo, who killed a North Carolina deputy sheriff in 2022, and Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, the brother of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho.”
The extraditions are likely spurred by the Trump administration’s added pressure on Mexico.
The DOJ said in its press release that the “defendants were subject to longstanding U.S. extradition requests that were not honored during the prior Administration,” but Mexico took action because of a Trump executive order that designated cartels as terrorist organizations.
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The State Department announced on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Bondi met with several high-ranking Mexican security officials “to build a new era of U.S. – Mexico security cooperation where swift and decisive actions are taken to finally secure our borders, dismantle cartel organizations, and stop the illicit flows of drugs and weapons.”
“Secretary Rubio expressed appreciation for Mexico’s actions to secure our common border, including deploying 10,000 National Guard troops, as well as major seizures of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals, and the expulsion of 29 major cartel figures to stand trial for their crimes, making both our nations safer,” the statement said. “Both parties agreed upon the importance of making sure there was continued action beyond meetings and suggested the implementation of a timetable and touchbacks to target clear goals and sustainable results.”