In an unprecedented move, Mexico extradited 29 high-profile cartel figures to the United States on Thursday, including notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero. This bold action by President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government comes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to combat transnational drug trafficking more aggressively.

Among those transferred were several major cartel leaders: brothers Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales (Z-40) and Omar Treviño Morales (Z-42) of Los Zetas, and Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, brother of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that many defendants “were subject to longstanding U.S. extradition requests” and were transferred “in response to the Justice Department’s efforts pursuant to President Trump’s directive” in a recent executive order “to pursue total elimination of these Cartels.”

These suspects face charges across various U.S. districts for racketeering, drug-trafficking, murder, illegal firearms use, money laundering, and other crimes.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi pledged: “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.”

Mexico’s Security Ministry and Federal Attorney General’s Office described the extraditions as part of the “work of coordination, cooperation and bilateral reciprocity within the framework of respect for the sovereignty of both nations.”

The U.S. government recently designated six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Thursday’s extraditions included suspects from five of these groups: the CJNG, Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Northeast Cartel, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.

The defendants were transported from Mexican prisons to Felipe Ángeles International Airport north of Mexico City, then flown to eight U.S. cities including New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, six defendants including Caro Quintero could face the death penalty if convicted. Ioan Grillo, a Mexico-based journalist specializing in organized crime, questioned whether “a death penalty waiver” was signed before the extraditions and raised concerns about their legality.

Grillo later wrote on X: “The mass extradition of 29 narcos from Mexico to U.S., trampling their appeals and making them eligible for death is a big fucking deal and a huge smack to cartels. Could it be a turning point in Mexico’s cartel wars? We live in convulsive times.”

Reuters reported that some extradited individuals are “aging gang leaders who reigned over international trafficking rings decades ago focused on cocaine and heroin,” while “others are much younger leaders engaged in moving large quantities of deadly fentanyl into the U.S. more recently.”

The New York Times called this “one of the most important efforts by Mexico in the modern history of the drug war.”

Mike Vigil, former DEA chief of international operations, told AP: “This is historical, this has really never happened in the history of Mexico. This is a huge celebratory thing for the Drug Enforcement Administration.”

Mexican security analyst David Saucedo predicted “a furious reaction by drug trafficking groups against the Mexican state” in response to the extraditions.

Extraditions coincided with Mexico-US security talks

The extraditions occurred the same day top Mexican security officials and Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials in Washington.

President Sheinbaum described the meeting as “very good,” saying “the principles of [security] coordination and collaboration were established.”

Since taking office on January 20, President Trump has pressured Mexico to stem the flow of narcotics and migrants, including threatening a 25% blanket tariff on Mexican exports.

Sheinbaum avoided these tariffs earlier this month by agreeing to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to Mexico’s northern border, but another deadline looms next Tuesday. While Mexican officials work to reach a new deal, Trump wrote Thursday that “the proposed TARIFFS scheduled to go into effect on MARCH FOURTH will, indeed, go into effect.”

Caro Quintero to face justice in US 40 years after murder of ‘Kiki’ Camarena

Derek S. Maltz, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, highlighted that among the 29 extradited cartel members, “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,” Maltz said.

“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,” he added. “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.”

Caro Quintero, 72, spent 28 years in jail for the 1985 murder of Camarena before his 40-year sentence was cut short in 2013 when a court ruled he was improperly tried in federal court instead of state court. Although the Supreme Court later upheld the original 40-year sentence, by then the Guadalajara Cartel founder had disappeared. He was recaptured in northern Mexico in July 2022.

Caro Quintero was extradited to New York and scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

The complete list of defendants sent to the US

Other notable figures extradited include Andrew Clark, a Canadian citizen nicknamed “El Dictador,” Carlos Alberto Monsiváis “Bola” Treviño, a Northeast Cartel leader arrested last September, and Vicente Carillo Fuentes, brother of deceased Juárez Cartel leader Amado Carillo Fuentes, known as “El Señor de los Cielos” (The Lord of the Skies).

The full list of those extradited (with cartel affiliations):

  • CANOBBIO INZUNZA, Jose Angel (Sinaloa Cartel)
  • VALENCIA GONZÁLEZ, Norberto (Beltrán Leyva Cartel)
  • MARÍN SOTELO, Alder — “Alleged to have participated in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd”
  • CRUZ SÁNCHEZ, Evaristo (Gulf Cartel)
  • GARCÍA VILLANO, José Alberto (Gulf Cartel)
  • HERNÁNDEZ LECHUGA, Lucio (Los Zetas)
  • PÉREZ MORENO, Ramiro (Los Zetas)
  • RODRÍGUEZ DÍAZ, Miguel Ángel (Los Zetas)
  • VILLARREAL HERNÁNDEZ, José Rodolfo (Beltrán Leyva Cartel)
  • CARO QUINTERO, Rafael (Guadalajara Cartel)
  • CARRILLO FUENTES, Vicente (Juárez Cartel)
  • CABRERA CABRERA, José Bibiano (Sinaloa Cartel)
  • CLARK, Andrew (CJNG)
  • INFANTE, Héctor Eduardo (Los Rusos/Sinaloa Cartel)
  • LIMÓN LÓPEZ, Jesús Humberto (Sinaloa Cartel)
  • TAPIA QUINTERO, José Guadalupe (Sinaloa Cartel)
  • TORRES ACOSTA, Inez Enrique (Sinaloa Cartel)
  • GALAVIZ VEGA, Jesús (Los Zetas)
  • MÉNDEZ ESTEVANE, Luis Geraldo (Los Azteacs/La Línea/Juárez Cartel)
  • MONSIVÁIS TREVIÑO, Carlos Alberto (Northeast Cartel)
  • ALGREDO VÁZQUEZ, Carlos (CJNG)
  • LÓPEZ IBARRA, Rodolfo (Beltrán Leyva Cartel)
  • OSEGUERA CERVANTES, Antonio (CJNG)
  • RANGEL BUENDÍA, Alfredo (Los Zetas)
  • TREVIÑO MORALES, Miguel Ángel (Los Zetas/Northeast Cartel)
  • TREVIÑO MORALES, Omar (Los Zetas)
  • VALENCIA SALAZAR, Erick (Los Mata Zetas/CJNG)
  • MÉNDEZ VARGAS, Jesús (La Familia Michoacana)
  • PALACIOS GARCÍA, Itiel (CJNG)