MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s security minister said Tuesday that the Trump administration has sent 37 more Mexican drug cartel members to the United States as it ramps up pressure on governments to crack down on what it says are criminal networks that smuggle drugs across the border.
Mexico’s Security Minister Omar García Harfuch wrote in X’s social media post that those transferred were “high-impact criminals” who “posed a real threat to national security.”
This is the third time in less than a year that Mexico has sent detained cartel members to the United States, as the country seeks to neutralize a growing threat from U.S. President Donald Trump. García Harfouch said the government sent a total of 92 people.
Video shared by Mexican authorities showed a line of handcuffed prisoners surrounded by heavily armed and masked police being loaded onto a military aircraft at an airport on the outskirts of Mexico City.
“As pressure increases, as demands from the White House increase, (the Mexican government) will need to take extraordinary measures, such as transfer payments,” said David Mora, Mexico analyst at the International Crisis Group.
The State Department and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tuesday’s transfer included a number of key figures from the Sinaloa cartel, the Beltran Leyva cartel, the Jalisco New Generation cartel, and the Northeastern Cartel, a remnant of the notorious Zeta organization based in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas across from Texas. Mexican authorities said all cases are pending in the United States.
Those transferred include Maria del Rosario Navarro Sanchez, the first Mexican citizen to face charges in the United States for providing support to a terrorist group after she was accused of conspiring with the cartel.
Trump has openly floated the idea of military action against Mexican cartels, his rhetoric becoming more combative since U.S. military action in Venezuela ousted former President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.
Shortly after the attack in Venezuela, Trump turned his attention to Mexico, telling Fox News: “We’ve eliminated 97 percent of the drugs that come in by water, and we’re now going to start cracking down on land-based drug cartels.”
Last week, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum spoke to Trump and told him there was “no need” for the United States to intervene in Mexico, but stressed that the two governments would continue to cooperate.
Last February, Mexico sent 29 drug cartel figures to the United States, including Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord who killed a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985. In August, a second round sent 26 Mexican drug cartel figures to the United States. Although there is no profile of Carlo Quintero, the figures are involved in multiple drug cartels and could help U.S. prosecutors build their case.
After the August transfer, Garcia Harfuch said it was a public safety decision because Mexico did not want them to continue operating an illegal business inside a Mexican prison.
There have been rumors for weeks that prisoners would be transferred to the United States again. Mexico has sought to reassure the Trump administration that it remains a willing partner in the fight against drug traffickers.
“What ultimately matters to the Trump administration and Trump supporters is that Trump can actually bring home some victory and say ‘Look, this is what I got from Mexico,'” Mora said.
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Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchéz in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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