Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch says US had promised that suspects will not face the death penalty.
Published On 21 Jan 2026
Mexico has sent another 37 alleged members of Mexican criminal organisations to the United States, the country’s security minister said, amid US President Donald Trump’s threat of ground attacks against drug cartels in the region.
The handover of alleged drug cartel members on Tuesday is the third major transfer to the US in the past year and brings the total number of suspects transferred to 92.
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Images posted by Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch on X showed rows of fully-armed Mexican security personnel lined up next to a plane, as several armoured vehicles, presumably transporting the suspects, arrived.
“With this transfer, 92 high-impact criminals have now been sent to the US during this administration, preventing them from generating violence in our country,” Harfuch said on X.
The suspects were flown to Washington, Houston, New York, Pennsylvania, San Antonio, and San Diego on board seven Mexican Armed Forces aircraft, the minister said.
The latest swap occurred amid growing tension with Washington over cartel activity and repeated threats by President Trump to attack cartels inside Mexico’s borders with or without the Mexican government’s permission.
Those transferred by Mexico on Tuesday were wanted by US authorities due to their alleged links with criminal organisations, and presented public safety risks, Mexico’s military said in a statement.
Mexican lawmakers and legal experts have disputed the political and legal grounds for the government’s prisoner transfers to the US.
Security minister Harfuch stressed the transfers were carried out “in accordance with Mexico’s National Security Law and under bilateral cooperation mechanisms with the US, with full respect for national sovereignty”. He also said Mexico secured a commitment from the US that the suspects will not face the death penalty if convicted.
Among those sent to the US in the latest transfer was Pedro Inzunza Noriega, the father of the second-in-command of Mexico’s powerful Beltran Leyva cartel, who was arrested in December 2025 after the US named him in its first terrorism indictment against a Mexican drug trafficker.
The transfers are occurring as Trump has increased pressure on Mexico over drug cartels and has said land attacks against trafficking networks would follow recent US attacks on vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean region, which have killed more than 110 people since September.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has ruled out US military intervention in Mexico to combat drug cartels, pointing out that fentanyl seizures at the US border with Mexico have decreased by 50 percent owing to her policy against drug crime.
