Seventeen family members of a notorious Sinaloa Cartel leader allegedly crossed into the United States last week as part of a deal between a son of the cartel’s former head and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s security secretary, verified a report by independent journalist Luis Chaparro that relatives of Ovidio Guzmán López, extradited to the U.S. in 2023, entered the U.S. from Tijuana.
Guzmán López, alias “the Mouse,” is one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel founder, and was captured by Mexican forces in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in January 2023. He faces multiple drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
García Harfuch, speaking in a radio interview, said the family’s crossing followed negotiations between Guzmán López and U.S. authorities, likely tied to a cooperation agreement.
“It is evident that his family is going to the U.S. because of a negotiation or an offer that the Department of Justice is giving him,” García Harfuch said, CBS News reported.
He noted that none of the family members are wanted by Mexican authorities and urged the Trump administration to share details of the arrangement with Mexican prosecutors, which it has not yet done.
The confirmation coincided with the U.S. Attorney General’s Office announcing “narcoterrorism” charges against several top cartel leaders, the first such charges since the Trump administration designated six Mexican drug trafficking groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations.
Guzmán López and his brothers, known as the Chapitos, are accused of taking control of the Sinaloa Cartel after their father’s 2019 conviction in the U.S., where he is serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, money laundering, and weapons offenses. A 2023 U.S. Justice Department indictment alleges the Chapitos and their associates used brutal methods, including corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chiles, to torture rivals, with some victims reportedly “fed dead or alive to tigers.”
Ovidio Guzmán López is charged with conspiring to traffic cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana into the U.S. Rumors surfaced last week that he may plead guilty to avoid a trial, following his lawyer’s January statement that he had entered negotiations with U.S. authorities. García Harfuch suggested Guzmán López’s cooperation likely involves providing information on rival criminal organizations.
The Sinaloa Cartel has faced significant turmoil since the July 2024 arrest of another of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, who arrived in the U.S. on a private plane alongside cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Zambada claimed he was kidnapped, and the arrests triggered violent infighting in Sinaloa state, leaving over 1,200 dead and 1,400 missing.
El Chapo, imprisoned in a Colorado maximum-security facility, issued an “SOS” message in 2023, alleging “psychological torment” in captivity. His sons’ faction of the cartel continues to wield significant influence despite intensified U.S. and Mexican efforts to disrupt their operations.
Adam Gordon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, issued a stern warning to cartel members, specifically targeting the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted,” Gordon said. “You will be betrayed by your friends, you will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California.”