Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States in August 2025 as U.S. authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border. Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection with the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups.
The transfers are a milestone for Mexican-U.S. relations. The countries have made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key priority. It’s the second time in months that Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the U.S.
“These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”
The cartel figures were flown to the U.S. after the Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants or against any cartel leaders and members sent to the U.S. in February. That transfer was of 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.
“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two governments stand united against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in a statement. “These fugitives will now face justice in U.S. courts, and the citizens of both of our nations will be safer from these common enemies.”
Also included in the group expelled in August was Servando Gómez Martinez, also known as “La Tuta,” a former teacher who became one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights Templar cartel. He was captured in 2015 and sentenced to 55 years in a Mexican prison in June 2019.
Gomez led the quasi-religious criminal group that once exercised absolute control over Michoacan, and he liked to appear in interviews and videos. The cartel orchestrated politics, controlled commerce, dictated rules and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God and family, even as it murdered and plundered.
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. Abigael González Valencia was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and had been fighting extradition to the U.S. since then. The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to “El Mencho’s” arrest or conviction.
Alongside his two brothers, Abigael González Valencia led Los Cuinis, which financed the founding and growth of the CJNG, one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the U.S. and other countries and is known for extreme violence, murders, torture and corruption.
One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose González Valencia was arrested in 2017 at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.