Mexico hands over dozens more suspected cartel members to US
Mexico has handed 37 suspected members of drug cartels to the US amid the US president's military threats.
Members of Mexico's federal forces escort a prisoner wanted in the US for ties to drug-trafficking groups at the Altiplano high-security prison in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico, Aug 12, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Gabinete de Seguridad de Mexico)
MEXICO CITY: Mexico said Tuesday (Jan 20) it has handed 37 suspected members of organised crime gangs over to the United States, whose President Donald Trump has threatened ground attacks against drug cartels there.
It was the third such handover in about a year, bringing the total to 92, the government said. It did not state the suspected criminals' nationalities.
The announcement came just over a week after President Claudia Sheinbaum discussed security with Trump and told him a US troop deployment in Mexico was "not on the table."
Trump had said land attacks against cartels would follow recent US maritime operations in the Pacific and Caribbean, without specifying where or when.
Sheinbaum has stepped up the extradition of cartel leaders and reinforced border cooperation, but has repeatedly voiced opposition to any military intervention.
She has pointed to a 50 per cent decrease in fentanyl seizures at the US southern border, a 40 percent drop in homicides in Mexico, and the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs as proof of the success of her policies.
Since seizing Venezuela's president from Caracas, Trump has also made threats against other leftist governments in the region, including Cuba, Colombia and Mexico.
Mexico's public security secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said on X Tuesday the group most recently expelled would not risk the death penalty in the US under an agreement with Washington.
The alleged criminals were flown to Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, San Antonio and San Diego aboard seven military aircraft, he added.
Among those handed over was Pedro Inzunza Noriega, wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges.
In February 2025, Mexico handed over another group of 29 alleged drug traffickers, including Rafael Caro Quintero, suspected in the murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985.
