37 Mexican Nationals Wanted for Serious Crimes Transferred to the United States from Mexico, Including Leaders of Foreign Terrorist Organizations

 

The United States announced today that yesterday evening it took into custody 37 fugitives from Mexico facing a range of federal criminal charges around the country, including charges relating to narcoterrorism, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, firearms trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, and various drug trafficking offenses, including conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine.

Among the fugitives taken into U.S. custody are prolific human smugglers, violent arms traffickers, and alleged members of dangerous drug cartels, including those designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN, formerly Los Zetas), and Cártel de Golfo (CDG) as well as additional drug trafficking organizations, such as the Gulf Cartel, La Linea, and the former Beltrán-Leyva Organization. 

“This is another landmark achievement in the Trump Administration’s mission to destroy the cartels. These 37 cartel members – including terrorists from the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG, and others – will now pay for their crimes against the American people on American soil,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “We are grateful for this collaboration with our international partners and will deliver swift, comprehensive justice for members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations who have spent years preying on the American people.”

“The FBI has proven that we will hold dangerous criminals accountable for their egregious violent acts, no matter where they try to hide,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Today’s announcement of the return of dozens of fugitives from Mexico to face charges is yet another example of the FBI’s relentless work and partnerships here in the U.S. and in Mexico. We will continue to work to put a stop to these drug cartels, arms traffickers, and terrorists from bringing crime, drugs, and firearms to our city streets and neighborhoods.”

“The significance of this transfer cannot be overstated. Thirty-seven fugitives were brought from Mexico to the United States to face justice for alleged crimes that have spread violence, threatened public safety, and devastated families. Among them are individuals tied to the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, both designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” said Administrator Terrance Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “We thank the Government of Mexico for standing with us. DEA will keep driving forward with our U.S. and international partners to dismantle these terrorist cartels, cut off the fentanyl supply, and save American lives.”

“Leadership like President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s to work diligently to bring all of these wanted criminals back to the United States reinforces their commitment to getting justice for their victims,” said Director Gadyaces S. Serralta of the United States Marshals Service (USMS). “This sends a very clear message; justice does not stop at borders.”

“ATF is on the front lines of the fight against violent crime,” said Deputy Director Rob Cekada of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). “Our agents are hunting down gangs, cartels, and transnational organizations that traffic illegal firearms and turn our streets into war zones. We will dismantle these networks at every level, cut off their access to weapons, and hold every criminal accountable. Those who profit from violence will be found, stopped, and brought to justice.”

Yesterday’s transfer marks only the third time that Mexico has used its National Security Law to expel fugitives to the United States. It is also the largest such transfer of fugitives to occur — the first transfer, on Feb. 27, 2025, involved 29 fugitives, and the second, on Aug.12, 2025, involved 26 fugitives. 

Mexican National Fugitives Transferred to U.S. Custody

Mexican National Fugitives Transferred to U.S. Custody

Mexican National Fugitives Transferred to U.S. Custody

Included in yesterday’s transfer are the following fugitives: 

• Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez. Navarro-Sanchez is the first Mexican national to be charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization based on her involvement with the CJNG, including providing the cartel with grenades and engaging in alien smuggling, firearms trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, and narcotics trafficking on its behalf. CJNG, which controls a significant portion of the narcotics trafficking trade, also engages in money laundering, bribery, extortion of migrants, and other criminal activities, including acts of violence and intimidation. 

• Eduardo Rigoberto Velasco Calderon and Eliomar Segura Torres. Velasco Calderon and Segura Torres are alleged to be members of Mexico-based money laundering organizations responsible for collecting bulk cash drug proceeds in the United States and transferring the funds to Mexico through cryptocurrency transfers. These organizations help launder funds for Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations, including the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Sinaloa Cartel. Velasco Calderon and Segura Torres received financial compensation for the money laundered in the form of a commission, or percentage of the money laundered, each time that proceeds of drug sales were returned to the drug trafficking organization. 

• Heriberto Hernández Rodriguez. Hernández Rodriguez is accused of having been a member of Cártel del Noreste responsible for drug trafficking, kidnappings and assassinations, and procuring weapons for the cartel. Between 2006 and his arrest in November 2022, Hernández Rodriguez is alleged to have commanded hundreds of sicarios and ordered the deaths of multiple people. Hernández Rodriguez is also alleged to have overseen security for the cartel’s stash houses in Mexico, which served as staging points for thousands of kilograms of marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine to be transported into the United States for distribution. 

• Pedro Inzunza Noriega. In May 2025, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, also known as Sagitario and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, were the first Sinaloa Cartel leaders in the nation to be charged with narcoterrorism and material support of terrorism, along with drug trafficking and money laundering charges. The Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) is a powerful and violent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that is believed to be the world’s largest known fentanyl production network. Five other BLO leaders are charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. Pedro Inzunza Noriega worked closely with his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, to produce and aggressively traffic fentanyl to the United States. The father and son led one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world. Over the past several years, they have trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States. On Dec. 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement raided multiple locations in Sinaloa that are controlled and managed by the father and son and seized 1,500 kilograms (more than 1.65 tons) of fentanyl – the largest known seizure of fentanyl in world history. On Nov. 30, 2025, the son, Inzunza Coronel, was killed during a capture operation in Mexico. On Dec. 31, 2025, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, aka Sagitario was captured by the Mexican military. 

• Juan Pablo Bastidas Erenas also known as Payo. Juan Pablo Bastidas Erenas aka Payo is a high-ranking lieutenant of the Beltran Leyva faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and the long-time right-hand man of Consolidated Priority Organization Target Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, also known as “El Musico”. Bastidas has operated with impunity for over 20 years and has imported and distributed thousands of tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, via Mexico. In addition to cocaine trafficking, Bastidas has imported and distributed large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine from Mexico to the United States. Bastidas is also responsible for laundering millions of dollars from drug proceeds, weapons trafficking, and has engaged in kidnapping, torture, and murder. Bastidas was captured on May 28, 2025, by the Mexican military. 

• Juan Carlos Alonso Reyes. Regional Priority Organization Target Juan Carlos Alonso Reyes was the leader of “The Office,” a transnational criminal organization which operated physical locations in Tijuana where Alonso Reyes and his co-conspirators sold mainly fentanyl and methamphetamine. The Office’s physical locations worked as a type of illicit 24/7 drug convenience store for mostly American buyers. It operated so openly and notoriously that at one time you could search The Office on Google Maps, and the physical location would appear in Tijuana. Alonso Reyes coordinated drug sales and distribution from The Office to hundreds of internal body carriers who then smuggled the drugs into the United States via the district’s Ports of Entry. On Jan. 23, 2024, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FGR) physically seized and closed the Office’s latest location in Tijuana. 

• Julio Cesar Mancera Dozal. Julio Cesar Mancera Dozal was the leader of a drug smuggling organization that is part of the Sinaloa Cartel that imported and distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the United States from Mexico. His organization was headquartered in Tijuana, Mexico, and imported drugs into San Diego, California, through vehicles with sophisticated non-factory compartments, with further distribution into the Central District of California (Los Angeles, Orange County, and Riverside). Once crossed, additional co-conspirators also under the leadership and coordination of Mancera removed, stored, and transported the drugs further into the United States. 

• Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias, also known as “Z-27,” is charged in the Southern District of Texas with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, as well as associated drug trafficking offenses. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. According to the indictment, Saldivar-Farias served as a Zeta Regional Commander and Plaza Boss located in the Falcon Lake area of South Texas. Along with his brother, Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias, also known as “Z-31” or “El Borrado,” Saldivar-Farias oversaw all narcotics moving in and around the Falcon Lake area. Agents estimate that several multi-ton quantities of marijuana were crossed into the United States through this area every week. During their time as Plaza bosses, multi-ton quantities of cocaine were also imported into the United States on a monthly basis. The Saldivar-Farias brothers were the source of marijuana and cocaine for the NETO Drug Trafficking Organization. Any other dope or contraband moving through the area from non-Zetas had to be approved by one of the brothers, or was subject to a “piso,” or tax, paid for landing in or crossing through the area. A separate piso was charged for crossing the contraband into the United States. Individuals who did not secure permission or pay the piso would be held hostage, beaten, tortured, killed, or some combination of all four. Saldivar-Farias’s brother, Z-31, was caught by immigration authorities in 2015, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in 2017, and is currently serving a thirty-year sentence. 

• Ricardo Cortez-Mateos, also known as “Billeton,” is a former high-ranking member of the Cartel del Golfo, and is charged in the Southern District of Texas with significant drug trafficking offenses for his role in importing large quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine. Cortez-Mateos, 41, of Mexico, was originally indicted by a grand jury in Brownsville on Nov. 10, 2021, with nine counts, including conspiracy to possesses with intent to distribute and conspiracy to unlawfully import more than 50 grams of meth, more than five kilograms of cocaine, and more than 400 grams of fentanyl. Cortez-Mateos faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison if convicted. 

Below is a complete list of fugitives,[1] as well as the districts in which they are charged:

Fugitive	Jurisdiction	Statutory Maximum
Ricardo Cortez Mateos	Southern District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Fidel Felix Ochoa	Southern District of Florida	Up to life imprisonment
Oscar Hernandez Flores	Western District of Oklahoma	Up to life imprisonment
Luis Alonso Navarro Quezada	District of Colorado	Up to life imprisonment
David Eliezer Seas Centeno	District of New Mexico	Up to life imprisonment
Juan Pedro Saldivar Farias	Southern District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Carlos Alberto Guerrero Mercardo	Eastern District of New York	Up to life imprisonment
Jair Francisco Patron Tobias	Eastern District of New York	Up to life imprisonment
Guillermo Isaias Perez Parra	Eastern District of New York	Up to life imprisonment
Manuel Ignacio Correa	Eastern District of Kentucky	20 years’ imprisonment
Yahir Alejandro Lujan Rojo	Western District of Pennsylvania	Up to life imprisonment
Lucas Anthony Mendoza	Southern District of Indiana	Up to life imprisonment
Eliomar Segura Torres	Eastern District of Kentucky	20 years’ imprisonment
Eduardo Rigoberto Velasco Calderon	Eastern District of Kentucky	20 years’ imprisonment
Francisco Arredondo Colmenero	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Gustavo Castro Medina	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Luis Carlos Davalos Lopez	Western District of Texas	25 years’ imprisonment
SEALED	Western District of Texas	25 years’ imprisonment
Heriberto Hernandez Rodriguez	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Daniel Manera Macias	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Maria del Rosario Navarro Sanchez	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Humberto Rivera Rivera	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Ricardo Gonzalez Sauceda	Western District of Texas	Up to life imprisonment
Juan Carlos Alonso Reyes	Southern District of California	Up to life imprisonment
Juan Pablo Bastidas Erenas	Southern District of California	Up to life imprisonment
Pedro Inzunza Noriega	Southern District of California	Up to life imprisonment
SEALED	District of Arizona	20 years’ imprisonment
Julio Cesar Mancera Dozal	Southern District of California	Up to life imprisonment
Rodrigo Perez Mesquite	District of Arizona	20 years’ imprisonment
Jose Luis Sanchez Valencia	Western District of Washington	Up to life imprisonment
Jorge Damian Roman Figueroa	District of Arizona	Up to life imprisonment
Armando Gomez Nunez	District of Columbia	Up to life imprisonment
SEALED	District of Columbia	Up to life imprisonment
Jose Pineda Perez	Middle District of Georgia	Up to life imprisonment
Jose Gerardo Alvarez Vasquez	Southern District of New York	Up to life imprisonment
Jose Torres	Southern District of New York	Up to life imprisonment
Daniel Alfredo Blanco-Joo	District of New Mexico	Up to life imprisonment

Attorney General Pamela Bondi thanked the law enforcement officers of the DEA, FBI, ATF, USMS, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for their valuable contributions to these investigations.

Attorney General Bondi also thanked the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs for coordinating the transfers, as well as the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and the Money Laundering, Narcotics, and Forfeiture Section, and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Arizona, the Southern District of California, the District of Columbia, the District of Colorado, the Southern District of Florida, the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Middle District of Georgia, the Southern District of Indiana, the District of New Mexico, the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York, the Western District of Oklahoma, the Western District of Pennsylvania, the Southern District of Texas, the Western District of Texas, and the Western District of Washington for handling the prosecution of the cases.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

[1] This chart contains the maximum penalty for the single most serious crime for which the defendant is currently charged. A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Attorney General James Celebrates Expansion of Multilingual Emergency Alerts

 

New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a long-delayed order requiring the expansion of cell phone emergency alerts to include American Sign Language and 13 additional languages:

“This is a profound victory for the millions of New Yorkers and families across the country who will no longer be left without guidance during emergencies and natural disasters. No one’s ability to protect themselves and their loved ones should depend on the language they speak. I am proud to have stood with my fellow attorneys general and advocates nationwide to push this rule forward. This language expansion will save lives.”

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) are short, text message-like alerts sent by government agencies through cell carriers to warn the public of imminent threats, including severe weather, natural disasters, missing persons, and other public safety emergencies. These alerts are among the most widely used and effective public warning tools in the United States, but for years were issued only in English, with Spanish only supported more recently.

Today, after years of advocacy from Attorney General James – and following a multistate demand letter to the FCC in November 2025 led by Attorney General James – the FCC has published its Multilingual Alerts Order in the Federal Register, extending alerts to the 13 most spoken non-English languages and American Sign Language. Wireless carriers now have until June 12, 2028 to update their systems to support multilingual alerts in Arabic, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, as well as American Sign Language. This expansion will benefit an estimated 1.3 million New Yorkers statewide who are not proficient in either English or Spanish and will now be able to access critical, life-saving information during emergencies.

NYS Office of the Comptroller DiNapoli: Administrative Streamlining Can Strengthen Fragmented NYC Child Care Programs

 

Program Cost Estimates Vary Widely Based on Services

A new report by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli analyzes New York City’s child care services for those under the age of five, including the demand for these programs and current measures of success, and found there are opportunities to utilize existing data to increase the cost efficiency of programs and direct expansion efforts based on the greatest need. 

“The rising cost of child care, especially for children under five, is a major affordability issue facing New Yorkers, forcing many parents to choose between working and taking care of their children,” DiNapoli said. “Governor Hochul’s recently unveiled child care expansion proposal, supported by Mayor Mamdani, is laudable and aims to provide services to tens of thousands of additional children across the state in the next two years and grow over time. Mayor Mamdani has made universal child care a priority for his administration. My office has found that existing programs in New York City are fragmented and data on outcomes and cost can be better utilized so expansion efforts are done in a cost-efficient manner and are directed to those most in need.”

Funding for the expansion of both 3-K and child care vouchers was initially backed by one-time federal resources, which the city (and to a lesser extent, the state), has slowly absorbed in recent years. The city will need to identify new resources, or redirect existing resources, to pay for further expansion, which comes at a higher cost to care for infants and toddlers.

The cost of expanding child care will vary widely based on services provided, provider types, hours and days of service and the number of seats provided, among other factors. Based on current costs and utilization rates, DiNapoli's report estimated expansion could cost between $2.7 billion to $8.2 billion, excluding additional costs for services for children with disabilities. The wide range reflects the significant variability in cost-driving factors, such as the types of services provided and the number of children who receive care.

DiNapoli recommended officials look at streamlining program administration, improving public engagement and outreach and lowering the per-participant cost of services provided across the age spectrum by improving standardization of services and reducing unfilled seats. The report found inconsistencies in  information available to applicants and that the fragmentation of programs made it difficult to compare the cost effectiveness of care across services offered.

Success of such an effort would benefit from improved data collection and reporting on those served and the providers of child care services (including providers through the Department of Education (DOE)), a simpler application process, more regular reviews of public-facing websites and establishment and measurement of intended outcomes.

The report also notes that phased implementation has several operational and financial benefits that should improve the efficiency of any expansion of child care services, including addressing training and staffing needs, physical capacity expansion in child care deserts, more responsive application and administration processes, and a reduced chance of mismatch between demand and supply which could lead to more unfilled seats and higher costs. A summary of the number of children under five and two-year-olds by neighborhood are included in the report.

DiNapoli’s report on the city’s child care services for children under the age of five also found:

• The city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and DOE provided child care and early childhood education programming to nearly 160,000 under the age of five in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, equal to about 35% of the city’s 2024 under-five population.
• The cost of providing services to children under five in FY 2025 was about $3.2 billion, or nearly $20,000 per child, excluding cost of special education Pre-K services. 
• Monthly ACS vouchers in use by children under five increased from an average of 29,615 in FY 2023 to 52,027 in FY 2025. Through the first four months of FY 2026, this figure increased to 64,129 vouchers in use.
• Total enrollment in the city’s 3-K and Pre-K programs declined in FY 2025, suggesting the programs may be reaching a saturation point or programs are competing with vouchers. Unfilled seats across both programs exceeded 23,000 in FY 2025.
• Participation in child care programs for children under five is not uniform across all ages, as program coverage is available to about 86% of all three- and four-year olds, but only 13% of children under the age of three.

Report

New York City Government Services: Child Care Services for Children Under Five

Related Reports

Lingering Challenges in the Child Care Sector

Review of the Financial Plan of the City of New York

New York City Agency Services Monitoring Tool (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)

MAMDANI ADMINISTRATION BANS HOTEL HIDDEN FEES AND UNEXPECTED CREDIT CARD HOLDS

 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined Commissioner Sam Levine and business, consumer and labor leaders to announce DCWP’s final rule banning hidden junk fees and unexpected credit card holds on hotel stays, ensuring transparency for consumers and saving millions of dollars overall. 

  

In 2025, the City’s DCWP received hundreds of complaints from consumers related to hidden hotel fees or unexpected holds. 

TODAY, the Mamdani administration issued a final rule banning hotels across the city and country from charging consumers hidden junk fees—often mislabeled as “destination fees,” “resort fees,” or “hospitality service fees”—as well as unexpected credit card holds or deposits, that cheat consumers and hurt honest small businesses. 

 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined Commissioner Sam Levine and business, consumer and labor leaders to announce DCWP’s final rule banning junk fees on hotel stays. This rule will protect both consumers coming to New York City, and New Yorkers traveling elsewhere around the country. Some economists estimate that banning hotel junk fees will save consumers more than $46 million in 2026. The junk fee prohibitions of the final rule go into effect in New York City on February 21, 2026. 

 

When you book a room, the price you see is often not the price you pay. Many hotels utilize “junk fees,” advertising a base room rate and only later revealing additional mandatory charges that make it harder for consumers to understand the true overall cost. Many hotels also issue unexpected credit card holds or deposits with misleading terms. In 2025, DCWP received over 300 complaints from consumers related to hidden hotel fees or unexpected holds. 

 

To address this problem, DCWP proposed a rule modeled on a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule that makes it a deceptive trade practice under the City’s Consumer Protection Law to offer, display or advertise a price for a hotel without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the total price of the stay, including all mandatory fees. The new rule goes a step further than the FTC's rule requiring transparency on mandatory credit card holds or deposits taken as well. 

 

Today’s announcement builds on the work the Mamdani Administration is doing to hold companies accountable and protect New Yorkers from deceptive practices, including issuing two Executive Orders that crack down on citywide junk fees and subscription traps, and creating a Citywide Junk Fee Task Force to target predatory companies. 

 

Hotels in New York City are also required to comply with other key consumer and worker protections, including the Hotel Service Disruption Act, which requires that consumers be notified of changes to service during their stay, and the Safe Hotels Act, which prohibits illegal subcontracting at hotels. Together these laws ensure that the city’s hotel industry is transparent with its consumers and compliant with nation-leading workers’ rights requirements.

 

“Whether you’re visiting the five boroughs for the World Cup or leaving our city for a well-deserved vacation, you deserve to know how much a hotel costs up front. This new rule will ensure that New Yorkers and visitors alike are not stuck paying hidden hotel fees, and will instead save millions of dollars each year,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. “In just three weeks, our administration has made it clear that deceptive business practices do not have a home here—and that City Hall will always fight for New Yorkers to know exactly what they’re paying for.” 

 

“This final rule delivers on affordability—for New Yorkers traveling across the country to see the World Cup, and visitors who want to experience our incredible city,” said DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine. “DCWP will use its full enforcement authority to ensure hotels comply with the laws and rules of our city and we will be vigilant to ensure consumers have transparency in their transactions and that workers’ rights are respected.”