The United States successfully secured the extradition of 29 Mexican drug cartel leaders on Thursday, marking a significant development in President Trump’s ongoing fight against the violent drug-trafficking cartels operating at the southern border.  Both the White House and Attorney General Pam Bondi issued press releases confirming that the fugitive cartel members have already arrived on American soil.

The extraditions are likely part of Trump’s broader negotiations with Mexico, which is currently seeking to delay 25% tariffs on Mexican imports.  About 80% of Mexico’s imports go to the United States.  The imports include a wide range of goods such as vehicles, machinery, electrical equipment, agricultural products, and petroleum.

The extradited individuals are from cartels designated by the Trump administration as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, according to Bondi’s press release dated February 27.  Notably, the designation does not permit the U.S. to authorize military action in Mexico.  Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has already stated that she will not allow the U.S. to “invade [her country’s] sovereignty.”

Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove and DEA acting administrator Derek S. Maltz provided further details on the extraditions, noting that the requests were “longstanding extradition requests that were not honored during the prior Administration” by the Mexican government.

“Today’s actions are a consequence of a White House that negotiates from a position of strength, and an Attorney General who is willing to lead the Department with courage and ferocity,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove. “By prosecuting these defendants to the maximum extent allowable under the law, we honor the memory of Special Agent Camarena, Deputy Sheriff Byrd, and other victims who are far too numerous, as well as decades of hard work in the trenches by our law enforcement partners.”

“Today, 29 fugitive cartel members have arrived in the United States from Mexico, including one name that stands above the rest for the men and women of the DEA — Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro Quintero, a cartel kingpin who unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the United States and Mexico, has spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list, and today we can proudly say he has arrived in the United States where justice will be served,” said DEA Acting Administrator Derek S. Maltz. “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. 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.”

Bondi’s press release also included a complete list of the defendants and the districts where they face charges.  The defendants will appear in federal courts across multiple states, including Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, California, New York, Arizona, and the District of Columbia. Most of them face the death penalty or life in prison.  Collectively, they are accused of being responsible for the importation of vast quantities of illicit drugs into the United States, along with “associated acts of violence.”

Jose Angel Canobbio Inzunza is a significant figure on the list.  A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa cartel, Inzunza was indicted in November 2024 for allegedly manufacturing and importing illicit drugs like cocaine and fentanyl.  He was a principal adviser, lieutenant, and security chief for Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar.  Salazar and his three brothers, known as the “Chapitos,”  allegedly led a faction of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico after the 2019 arrest and imprisonment of their father, Joaquin Guzman Loera, most commonly known as “El Chapo.”

Other notable extraditions involved Miguel Trevino Morales, known as Z-40, and his brother Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42.  Kingpins of the Los Zetas cartel which has been renamed the Cartel del Noreste, the brothers are notorious for using “extreme violence” and military tactics to control large swaths of Northern Mexico.  They operated primarily in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and Veracruz, according to a fifth superseding indictment filed in August 2024.

The October 16 press release from the Department of Justice states,

Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales were incarcerated in Mexico in 2013 and 2015, respectively, but continued to control the CDN through various means, including by installing various family members to run operations at their behest. Miguel and Omar Trevino Morales are alleged to be personally responsible for committing dozens of murders and for directing assassinations, kidnappings, and acts of torture by Los Zetas and CDN members to promote and protect the Cartel’s drug trafficking activities and enrich its members.”

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants ran a transnational drug trafficking organization that was responsible for committing extreme violence and trafficking massive quantities of narcotics into the United States,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.