El Huevo Deported to the United States

“HEARST” and “Socalj” for Borderland Beat

The leader of the Northeast cartel (Cártel del Noreste, CDN), Juan Gerardo Treviño Chávez, alias “El Huevo” was extradited to the US. An extradition from Mexico to the US happening so fast is unheard of in recent years, so what factors could have been the reason why he was able to be extradited so fast?

Quick Review

As previously reported by Itzli, El Huevo was arrested during the late night hours of Sunday, March 13, 2022, within the city of Nuevo Laredo in the state of Tamaulipas. Alleged members of CDN conducted a series of armed attacks and roadblocks in presumed retaliation only hours after, at the very beginning of Monday, March 14, 2022.  

There were over 30 armed confrontations between cartel hitmen and SEDENA soldiers during the pre-dawn hours of March 14, 2022. Locations like Nuevo Laredo’s US Consulate and the city’s international bridges appeared to be particularly targeted by the hitmen. 

At 2:06 am, the US Consulate tweeted out a warning about the nearby shootings and the city’s international bridges closed for several hours due to cartel shootings.  

During the afternoon of March 14, the Army (SEDENA) released an official statement which confirmed the identity of the detainee as El Huevo. As part of their statement, they wrote that El Huevo “has three arrest warrants: one in the state of Tamaulipas for extortion and criminal association, another in the state of Coahuila for intentional homicide and terrorism; and one more for extradition purposes for conspiracy to committ drug trafficking and money laundering.” 

The Extradition

At some point during March 14, 2022, El Huevo was flown across the country on a federal plane from the state of Tamaulipas to Mexico City, then later he was flown to the state of Baja California. 

Once in Baja California, El Huevo was taken to the Tijuana-San Diego border crossing where he was handed over to the custody of agents of the FBI and the US Marshals. The transfer reportedly occurred at 12:20 am on March 15, 2022. In photos of the transfer, Huevo can be seen to be wearing the same white shirt that he was photographed in after his arrest. 

It is likely that El Huevo’s transfer to the US occurring at the Tijuana border crossing (as opposed to the much closer Nuevo Laredo border crossing) was the plan all along, regardless of the cartel shootings that closed the international bridge.

Borderland Beat contributor MX has previously noted that the custody transfer of cartel figures often occurs at locations significantly outside of their region of criminal influence. As an example, Cartel Arellano Félix leader Eduardo Arellano Félix, alias “El Doctor”, was transferred back to Mexico at the Brownsville-Matamoros border crossing, in the state of Tamaulipas, far outside of CAF’s primary domain. 

The transfer of Eduardo Arellano Félix, alias "El Doctor". 

The Political Context 

The US Embassy in Mexico announced just last Friday, March 11, 2022, that the US Secretary of Homeland Security would be visiting the countries of Mexico and Costa Rica on Monday, March 14 and Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The embassy said the purpose of the visit to Mexico was so that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could “meet with Mexican government officials to address a regional approach to curb irregular migration and create viable legal avenues.”

It was speculated that Secretary Mayorkas was visiting in order to inform the government of Mexico that the US was planning to end Title 42 next month. Title 42 is a currently in place policy that has allowed US immigration officials to immediately deport newly arrived migrants in order to prevent a cross-border spread of COVID-19.

Then, El Huevo was arrested. And just a few hours later, Mexico’s head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard as well as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met with Secretary Mayorkas on March 14, 2022 in Mexico City.

Ebrard (left) photographed with Mayorkas (right) on March 14, 2022.

After the meeting, Ebrard spoke to the press and said the arrest of El Huevo was one of the main issues discussed at the meeting between Secretary Mayorkas, himself and President Obrador. Ebrard characterized El Huevo’s arrest as the  "one of the most important arrests of the last decade”, especially within the context of the Bicentennial Understanding. The Bicentennial Understanding is the latest US-Mexico agreement on fighting drug trafficking and organized crime, replacing the previous agreement called the Merida Initiative. 

For more details on how the Bicentennial Understanding and how it differs from the Merida Initiative, please see this previous story by SoCalj.

The Legal Aspect

So we know that - according to the SEDENA press release-  that there was a warrant out for El Huevo’s arrest for extradition purposes. Extradition, evidently, to the US. It is worth noting that El Huevo is not one of the Mexican cartel leaders listed as part of the National Rewards Program, unlike figures like Los Chapitos.

So, does a warrant for his extradition mean El Huevo was indicted in the US? Well, it depends entirely on whether or not El Huevo is a US citizen, which is unknown however he is rumored to be a US citizen. 

It is of note that El Huevo’s brother, Juan Francisco Treviño Chávez, alias “El Kiko Jr” is known to be a US citizen. 

The parents of El Kiko Jr and El Huevo moved from Mexico to the US in 1978 and are presumed to still have been living there when El Huevo’s older brother, El Kiko Jr was born in 1980, hence his US citizenship. Their father Juan Francisco Treviño Morales, alias “Kiko Ozuna”, was later arrested in the 1990s. 

Revised from previous versions. 3/15/2022. 

If a US citizen is wanted in the US, as long as it’s not a charge that they face the death penalty for, Mexico has to automatically turn them over. However they can file an amparo against it in Mexico to potentially block the extradition. In the US, for federal crimes, a warrant can only be issued after either an indictment or a complaint is filed with US District Court. 

However, if El Huevo is not a US citizen then according to the US-Mexico extradition treaty, his extradition does not include an indictment. It instead requires documents which include descriptions of the offense, possible sentences for the offense and the evidence which support the suspects involvement. 

A US arrest warrant is one of these required documents however it says a provisional arrest warrant can be used. A provisional arrest warrant can be granted in order to start the process and that can be issued solely by a judge, without the involvement of a grand jury.

Other High Level Extraditions & Extradition Requests

The United States has requested the extraditions of many high level members and leaders from every major cartel over the last few decades. A majority of the time, their lawyers in Mexico work to quickly submit amparos to block or at least delay their clients extraditions. 

The lengthy process can sometimes delay their extradition for a number of years or even block their extradition leaving them in the custody of Mexican authorities to either face charges there or remain in prison as preventative detention.

The U.S. had sought his extradition for two years. When the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested in February 2014, the first action of his legal team was establishing a remedy to avoid extradition. In June and August of 2015, the U.S. presented formal petitions for Chapo’s extradition, the Mexican Attorney General's office said. By September 3 Mexico’s Foreign Ministry determined the requests met the requirements.

After his escape of July 2015, his lawyers continued their strategy of seeking injunctions against US extraditions requests and were successful in obtaining an injunction in October 2015. But by then a fugitive from the authorities, there was no action to ratify the injunction (amparo), so on December 18th, Judge Sobresello of the Thirteenth District cancelled the action.

Mexico formally launched a renewed process of extradition to the United States two days after Guzmán was recaptured on 8 January 2016 after his second prison escape. Guzmán's lawyers mounted "numerous and creative injunctions" to prevent extradition. Vicente Antonio Bermúdez Zacarías was a federal judge involved in Guzmán's extradition proceedings, and he was assassinated on 17 October 2016 while jogging near Mexico City. A critical requirement for extradition was that the U.S. must guarantee that they would not sentence Guzmán to death if he were found guilty of homicide charges.

On 19 January 2017, Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. to face the charges and turned over to the custody of HSI and DEA agents. (Source, Source, Source, Source)

The son of one of Mexico's most wanted drug lords has been extradited to the U.S. to face trafficking and weapons charges, court records show. Rubén Oseguera-González, known as "El Menchito," is now in Washington, where he's expected to appear in court Thursday afternoon. U.S. law enforcement has described him as a former second-in-command of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The cartel leader's son had been fighting extradition since his 2015 arrest in Mexico. Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs approved his extradition request in 2018, and Oseguera González's motions to prevent his transfer to the U.S. have been denied. In Mexico, he was facing trial for money laundering and illegal possession of military-exclusive firearms. After several appeals, Oseguera González was extradited to the U.S. in February 2020.

He was taken to the U.S. by DEA agents and members of the U.S. Marshals Service. Oseguera-González is charged with distributing drugs in the U.S. from 2007 to February 2017 and using a gun during his alleged trafficking activities. His extradition has triggered fears of possible retaliation in Mexico. (Source)

In June 2010 Valdez, who was born in Laredo, Texas and is a US Citizen, was indicted in a US court on charges of trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico into the US between 2004-6. Mexican officials claim that Valdez introduced to the US about one ton of cocaine per month. In 2009 the Justice Department posted a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Mexican police said they tracked Valdez across five Mexican states for a year, a pursuit that intensified in the final months as they raided home after home owned by the drug lord, missing him but arresting several of his allies. On August 30, 2010, Valdez was captured by Mexican Federal Police near Mexico City.

His American lawyer told The New York Times that Valdez denies all charges against him and that the video confession was made under duress. In November 2010 Mexico started his extradition process to the US. 

On September 30, 2015, Valdez Villarreal was extradited to the US along with 12 other criminals. In June 2018 he was sentenced to 49 years in a US federal prison. (Source, Source)

Mario Ramirez-Trevino, also known as “Mario Pelon” and “X-20,” the alleged former leader of the Mexican Gulf Cartel, was extradited to the United States from Mexico to face drug conspiracy charges, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Chief of Operations Anthony D. Williams of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

 

Ramirez-Trevino, made his initial appearance on December 19, 2017 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the District of Columbia, after being extradited to the United States on Dec. 18. Ramirez-Trevino was ordered detained in federal custody pending trial. Ramirez-Trevino had been in the custody of Mexican authorities pending extradition since his arrest on Aug. 17, 2013. (Source)

Mexican Marines arrested Treviño Morales on 15 July 2013 in the state of Nuevo León without a single bullet being fired. At the time of his capture, the Mexican government was offering up to a 30 million pesos (US$2.3 million) reward for information leading to his arrest. The United States Department of State was offering up to US$5 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction. He is charged in a 2008 Federal indictment in the District of Columbia.

In January 2014, a New York federal district court issued other criminal charges against the drug lord. The investigation alleged that Treviño Morales conspired to order killings against rival gangsters of Los Zetas, members of his own criminal organization, and Mexican policemen and personnel of the Mexican Army from September 2004 to July 2013. The court, which sought his extradition, also stated that the drug lord conspired to traffic drugs to the U.S.

On March 27, 2017, Treviño Morales was transferred to a federal prison in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, through a precautionary inmate rotation program. He was then imprisoned in Puente Grande, Jalisco, outside of the city of Guadalajara, until June 30, 2020, whereupon he was transferred to the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (Cefereso) 17, located in Buenavista Tomatlán, in Tierra Caliente, Michoacán. (Source, Source, Source)

The U.S. government has tried to extradite him for drug trafficking and money laundering charges since El Cuini was arrested, but his defense team has issued several motions to delay and/or reject his transfer. 

On April 16, 2015, González Valencia's defense issued a writ of amparo to prevent the speedy extradition of their client. A judge agreed to shut down the possibility for a speedy extradition and granted González Valencia the opportunity to have an extradition trial. On October 11, a federal court in Mexico City stated González Valencia was to be extradited, but left it up to Mexico's Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE). On December 21, 2016, González Valencia was approved for extradition, but his defense issued another writ of amparo. On March 14, 2017, SRE issued a communiqué where it approved the extradition, but cited that they would have to wait until the writ of amparo case was solved to extradite him. 

On January 19, 2019, a tribunal court approved González Valencia's writ of amparo from December 2016, effectively stopping any extradition efforts against him. In order to extradite him to the U.S., the plaintiff would have to issue a new request and have it be validated by the court. The court made this decision because the SRE did not mention the charges González Valencia was facing in Mexico in the extradition request, and was told that if they were to request a new process, they would have to include the charges in Mexico. 

The court also asked the SRE to analyze the charges he faces in Mexico and decide upon that if an extradition to the U.S. was required. His defense had argued that authorities violated the legal rights of González Valencia and that his extradition to the U.S. was unconstitutional, but the court stated the previous extradition requests did not violate his rights and were constitutional. (Source, Source)

What Can We Learn?

With a majority of extradition processes seeming to take years, the quick two day extradition of “El Huevo” leaves some open questions, especially with there being no formal indictment against him in the United States, only an extradition warrant. One could be that he is a United States citizen as is rumored, so the United States has jurisdiction to prosecute its own citizens. However, this can still be blocked or appealed in Mexico via an amparo. Possibly his lawyers had not filed anything or waived that process, or he did not have lawyers working on it at the time. Another possible reason that sped up the process was the violence seen close to the US border after his arrest and fear that further retaliation or possible escape attempts could be made.

Sources: Reuters, Vanguardia, Official SEDENA Statement, Hola News, Kxan, Milenio, Frontera al Rojo Vivo, Mexico Codigo Rojo, Telediario, El Universal

Update: During the very end of the writing of this story, the cartel news twitter account La Voz de Pueblo reported that El Huevo is only a US citizen (as opposed to a person who holds dual citizenship) and that he did not enter the country of Mexico legally, which is what allowed such a fast extradition- or rather, a deportation.

Further confirmation that El Huevo was deported because he was a US citizen and unable to prove he was in Mexico legally has emerged from Reuters and Infobae within the last hour.

And more recently a SSPC press conference was held in which an official confirmed El Huevo's US citizenship.

Ricardo Mejia, deputy secretary of the SSPC, indicated that the deportation occurred because the subject violated immigration law by being in Mexico illegally. In Texas, he faces arrest warrants on charges such as conspiracy, possession of firearms, and distribution of cocaine and marijuana. Mejia said suspected drug gang leader Juan Gerardo Treviño was in fact a U.S. citizen and not a Mexican, and said he was deported.

If he had Mexican citizenship, he would have been subject to a lengthy extradition process, but Mejia said Treviño had no Mexican identity documents nor any record of them. It is not uncommon for Mexican families on the border to try to have their children’s birth registered in the U.S., but they usually claim dual citizenship.

Treviño, a key target for Washington, was a US citizen without Mexican nationality and his arrest resulted from an intelligence operation, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Secretariat of Citizen Security and Protection (SSPC), told a conference. 

“This is a definite blow to one of the most important criminal organizations in the northeast of the country, with influence in at least five states and with operations in the United States,” Rodríguez reported

After his arrest in Nuevo Laredo, authorities took him by helicopter to Mexico City and then to Tijuana, where he was deported to the United States, whose Marshall police authorities arrested him at that time. Once he arrived there, he was arrested and brought before a Texas judge who required him for conspiracy to carry weapons, import and distribute marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine and for using minors under 18 years of age to participate in drug trafficking.

Update Sources: Associated Press, Infobae, El Universal