Dozens of drug cartel members extradited to Americans as part of White House deal

Mexico has extradited 26 senior cartel officials to the United States in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as U.S. authorities ramp up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border.

Mexican authorities have sent 26 inmates wanted in the United States for links to drug trafficking groups to a U.S. prison, the attorney general's office and the security ministry said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The transfers came after the U.S. Justice Department promised prosecutors would not seek the death penalty in any of the cases, The Guardian reports.

Among those transferred to US custody is Abigael González Valencia, the leader of Los Quinis, a group closely linked to the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG. Another man, Roberto Salazar, is accused of participating in the 2008 murder of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, The Guardian notes.

It was the second time in recent months that Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of drug smuggling, murder and other crimes, amid growing pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs across the border. In February, Mexico handed over 29 cartel figures to U.S. authorities, including drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the 1985 killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

The deportations came days before a 25 percent tariff on Mexican imports was set to go into effect, The Guardian reports. Late last month, Donald Trump spoke to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to delay the imposition of the 30 percent tariff for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.

Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to engage in more security cooperation than her predecessors, including being more assertive in targeting Mexican cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions from Trump and others that the U.S. military intervene.

The Trump administration has made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key priority, designating the CJNG and seven other Latin American organised crime groups as foreign terrorist organisations, The Guardian notes.

Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the U.S. government. He was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and has since been under threat of extradition to the United States.

Along with his two brothers, he led Los Quinis, which financed the creation and growth of the CJNG, one of Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous drug cartels. The CJNG smuggles hundreds of tons of illegal drugs into the United States and other countries and is known for extremist violence, murder, torture, and corruption.

One of his brothers, Jose Gonzalez Valencia, was sentenced in Washington, D.C., in June to 30 years in prison in the U.S. after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose Gonzalez Valencia was arrested in 2017 during the first Trump administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under an assumed name.