The FBI has captured three fugitives on its Most Wanted list within the past two months under the leadership of its new director, Kash Patel, hinting at a return to the agency’s elite reputation, according to a former FBI agent.

Since January 20, 2025, the FBI has arrested Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, Arnoldo Jimenez, and Donald Eugene Fields. The high-profile arrests are being celebrated as a sign of the revamped strength of the Bureau, which has support from President Donald Trump.

“This is the FBI that I was proud to work for, and I’m really excited to see that they have already arrested several of the FBI’s Most Wanted fugitives,” Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent, told Fox News. “When President Trump took over in 2017 in his first administration, I was a violent crime agent in Miami, and I specifically remember that he said that his top priority was to focus on violent criminals.”

“That’s not an accident,” Patel posted to X. “When you let good cops be good cops, this is what happens. This administration is giving the new FBI and AG Bondi the resources to get the job done — and we won’t stop.”

The first arrest took place on January 25, when 60-year-old Donald Eugene Fields II was taken into custody in Lady Lake, Florida, during a routine traffic stop. Fields had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for his connection to crimes, including statutory rape, statutory sodomy, child molestation, sexual exploitation of a minor, and witness tampering. He now faces both state and federal charges related to the exploitation of minors.

Just days later, on January 30, Arnoldo Jimenez was arrested in Mexico. Jimenez was wanted for the brutal murder of his wife just days after they were married in 2012. His arrest follows years of investigative work by the FBI in collaboration with Mexican authorities.

On March 18, Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, a senior leader of the MS-13 gang, was arrested. Accused of running racketeering rings, “narco-terrorism,” and human trafficking, Roman-Bardales was captured in Mexico and was quickly extradited to the United States, according to a follow-up X post from Patel.

“I am so excited to see what is in store for the FBI over the next three and a half years. Again, we’re only two months into it, and for this to have already occurred, it shows me that Kash Patel is serious when he says, ‘Let good cops be good cops,'” Parker said. She added that the FBI’s new leadership will make it the “premier law enforcement agency again.”