Mexican cartel criminal activity and prosecutions

Legal proceedings and law enforcement actions have targeted individuals linked to Mexican criminal organizations operating across the U.S.-Mexico border.

In late August, two Mexican nationals, María del Rosario Navarro Sánchez and Gustavo Castro Medina, pleaded guilty in a Texas federal court to providing material support to the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Navarro Sánchez admitted to managing a firearms trafficking ring and utilizing human traffickers. Concurrently, Mexican authorities detained Salvador Díaz Rodríguez, a financial operator for the Sinaloa Cartel’s ‘Los Chapitos’ faction, in Mexicali following intelligence cooperation between Mexico and the United States.

By early September, further legal developments emerged regarding a smuggling operation involving the CJNG. Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring migrants into the United States via an underground tunnel connecting Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, Texas. The tunnel, which spanned approximately 1,000 feet on the Mexican side, was used to move migrants through municipal storm drains as part of a network also linked to drug and weapons trafficking.

On September 4, details emerged regarding the scale of the Davalos-Lopez operation. Authorities stated the CJNG-constructed tunnel involved charging migrants as much as $30,000 to use the passage. Once migrants entered the El Paso storm drains, they were moved through exit points, including a modified box truck positioned over a manhole. Federal investigators utilized wiretaps and surveillance to uncover the scheme, which serves as a significant test of efforts to treat cartel-linked smuggling as a counterterrorism issue.