Mexico sends 37 cartel figures to the US amid growing pressure from the Trump administration

Mexico’s security secretary said Tuesday that he had sent another 37 members of Mexican drug cartels to the United States, as the Trump administration increases pressure on governments to crack down on criminal networks it says are smuggling drugs across the border.

Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch wrote in a social media post on X that the people transferred were “high-impact criminals” who “represented a real threat to the country’s security.”

It is the third time in less than a year that Mexico has sent detained cartel members to the United States, as the country tries to counter growing threats from US President Donald Trump. García Harfuch said the government has sent 92 people in total.

Garcia Harfuch said that under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. He said the 37 individuals were taken to several cities, including Washington, Houston, New York, San Antonio and San Diego, aboard seven planes.

García Harfuch published images and videos of the transfer on social networks.

The U.S. Department of State and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tuesday’s transfer included figures from the Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, the Noreste Cartel, a remnant of the infamous Zetas based in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas. Mexican authorities said they all had pending cases in the United States.

The leader of the Northeast Cartel, Ricardo González Sauceda, alias “El Ricky”, was among the figures sent to the United States, local media reported.

Trump has entertained the idea of ​​military action against Mexican cartels, language that has become more combative since a U.S. military operation in Venezuela toppled former President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

Turning his attention to Mexico shortly after the attack on Venezuela, Trump said in an interview with News: “We’ve eliminated 97% of the drugs that come by water and now we’re going to start coming on land, as far as the cartels are concerned.”

Last week, The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum. spoke with Trump and told him that US intervention in Mexico “was not necessary” but emphasized that the two governments would continue to collaborate.

Last February, Mexico sent 29 cartel figures to the US, including drug traffickers. Rafael Caro Quinterowho was behind the murder of a US DEA agent in 1985. In August, in a second round, 26 Mexican cartel figures were sent to the United States. None had the profile of Caro Quintero, but by spanning multiple cartels, the figures could help US prosecutors build cases.

After the transfer in August, García Harfuch said that it was a public safety decision, because Mexico did not want them to continue operating their illicit businesses from inside Mexican prisons.

Another transfer of prisoners to the United States was rumored for weeks. Mexico has sought to assure the Trump administration that it remains a willing partner in the fight against drug traffickers.