U.S. agents arrest three people sought by Mexico, ambassador says

Rewards target eight Jalisco cartel leaders and associates

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said Sunday that federal immigration agents had arrested three people sought by Mexican authorities. He identified one as a suspected member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel who was wanted on a firearms charge in Guanajuato. The other two were wanted for murder in Zacatecas and fraud, respectively.

Johnson disclosed the arrests in a post on X. “In just one day, U.S. authorities returned three fugitives wanted in Mexico: a member of the CJNG [Jalisco New Generation Cartel] narco-terrorist organization wanted on a firearms charge in Guanajuato, a fugitive wanted for murder in Zacatecas, and a third wanted for fraud,” he wrote.

Johnson said the arrests demonstrated bilateral security cooperation between the governments of Trump and Sheinbaum. “Our cooperation, driven by @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and President @ClaudiaShein, sends criminals a clear message: you will be caught and held accountable,” he wrote.

The post did not name any of the three detainees. It also did not say where in the United States the arrests occurred.

Johnson provided no details about a border crossing or how the detainees were handed over to Mexican authorities. He also did not identify the specific federal immigration agency involved.

The Trump administration officially designated the CJNG as a narco-terrorist organization in February 2025. Trump had issued an executive order on his first day in office designating cartels and other transnational criminal organizations as foreign terrorists, according to the report.

The Trump administration has also pressured Mexico and Canada to do more to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, the report said.

Separately, the U.S. State Department this month announced rewards totaling up to $102 million for information leading to the capture of eight Jalisco cartel leaders and associates. The largest reward, $25 million, was for Juan Carlos Valencia González, whom U.S. authorities identified as the cartel’s new leader after the death of his stepfather and the group’s founder, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho.”

The report did not say whether Sunday’s arrests resulted from the State Department reward program.