Trump Administration Allows 17 Members of El Chapo's Family to Enter US

Ex-wife of imprisoned kingpin El Chapo among 17 family members entering through San Diego border crossing.

Mexican authorities announced Wednesday that 17 family members of Sinaloa Cartel leaders entered the United States last week through an agreement between Ovidio Guzmán López, son of the cartel's former leader, and the Trump administration.

Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s Security Secretary, verified a report by journalist Luis Chaparro, confirming that family members of Guzmán López, extradited to the U.S. in 2023, crossed the border. Guzmán López is the son of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the imprisoned Sinaloa Cartel founder.

Griselda López Pérez, Guzmán’s former wife, was among those permitted entry into the U.S.

In a radio interview, García Harfuch stated the arrangement stemmed from talks between Guzmán López and U.S. officials. "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," he said.

Mexican authorities were not pursuing any of the family members.

On Tuesday, Radio Formula shared video footage showing Guzmán’s family with luggage at the Tijuana/San Diego border crossing, reportedly carrying $70,000 in cash.

García Harfuch’s statement coincided with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office announcing "narcoterrorism" charges against several cartel leaders, the first such charges since the Trump administration labeled certain cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon for the Southern District of California declared, "Let me be direct, to the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters, you are the hunted. 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."

Guzmán López, 35, nicknamed "the Mouse," is one of "Los Chapitos," the four sons who led the Sinaloa Cartel after their father’s imprisonment. Joaquín Guzmán, once a dominant global drug trafficker, built the cartel into a major supplier of illegal drugs to the U.S. He was extradited in 2017, convicted of drug trafficking and other crimes, and is now incarcerated in Colorado.