Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch says the U.S. had promised the suspects would not be executed.
Published on January 21, 2026
Mexico has extradited 37 more alleged members of Mexican criminal organizations to the US, the country’s security minister said, amid US President Donald Trump. Threat of ground attacks against drug cartels in the region
Alleged drug cartel members are in custody on Tuesday The third largest transfer in the US in the past year And taking the total number of suspects to 92.
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Images posted on X by Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch showed rows of fully armed Mexican security personnel next to a plane, as several armored vehicles transporting the suspects arrived.
“With this transfer, 92 high-impact criminals have now been extradited to the U.S. during this administration, preventing them from causing violence in our country,” Harfuchs said on X.
The suspects were flown by seven Mexican armed forces planes to Washington, Houston, New York, Pennsylvania, San Antonio and San Diego, the minister said.
The latest exchange comes amid rising tensions with Washington over cartel activity and repeated threats by President Trump to attack cartels across the Mexican border with or without permission from the Mexican government.
Those extradited by Mexico on Tuesday were wanted by US authorities for alleged ties to criminal organizations and posed a threat to public safety, Mexico’s military said in a statement.
Mexican lawmakers and legal experts have disputed the political and legal reasons for the government’s transfer of prisoners to the US.
Security Minister Harfuch stressed that the transfers were carried out “in accordance with Mexico’s national security law and the mechanism of bilateral cooperation with the United States, with full respect for national sovereignty.” He said Mexico had secured a commitment from the United States that the suspects would not be executed if convicted.
Among those extradited to the U.S. in the latest extradition was Pedro Inzunza Noriega, father of the second-in-command of Mexico’s powerful Beltran Leyva cartel, who was arrested in December 2025 after the U.S. named him in the first terrorism indictment against Mexican drug traffickers.
The transfers are coming as Trump has stepped up pressure on Mexico over drug cartels and recently said there would be ground attacks on smuggling networks. America attacked ships in the Pacific and Caribbean regionwhich has killed more than 110 people since September.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected US military intervention in Mexico to combat drug crime, and her anti-drug policy has reduced fentanyl seizures at the US border with Mexico by 50 percent.