Mexico Sends 37 More Cartel Suspects to US Amid Rising Tensions

Reuters

14:47 JST, January 21, 2026

MEXICO CITY, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Mexico has sent another 37 alleged members of criminal organizations to the United States, Mexico’s security minister said on Tuesday.

The handover of alleged cartel members is the third major transfer in the past year and brings the total number of transferred inmates to 92.

The latest swap occurred amid growing tension with Washington over cartel activity and repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack cartels with or without Mexican involvement.

The recent set of prisoners was sought by the U.S. for their links with criminal organizations and because they presented public safety risks, Mexico’s military authorities said in a statement.

“With this transfer, 92 high-impact criminals have now been sent to the U.S. during this administration, preventing them from generating violence in our country,” Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on social media.

The inmates were flown to Washington, Houston, New York, Pennsylvania, San Antonio, and San Diego aboard seven Mexican Armed Forces aircraft.

Among them was Pedro Inzunza Noriega, the father of the second-in-command of the powerful Beltran Leyva cartel, who was arrested in December 2025 after the U.S. named him in its first terrorism indictment against a Mexican drug trafficker.

Mexican lawmakers and legal experts have disputed the political and legal grounds for the prisoner transfers.

They are occurring as Trump has increased pressure on Mexico over the cartels and the violence they cause, including his demands to deploy U.S. military forces against cartels within Mexican territory.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ruled out U.S. military intervention to combat drug cartels, following what she called a good conversation with Trump on January 12.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke with Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente in early January about the need for stronger cooperation to dismantle Mexico’s violent narco-terrorist networks and stop fentanyl and weapons trafficking.