{"id":144013,"date":"2025-08-14T03:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T03:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144013\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T03:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T03:00:10","slug":"three-of-26-men-expelled-from-mexico-appear-in-san-diego-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144013\/","title":{"rendered":"Three of 26 men expelled from Mexico appear in San Diego court"},"content":{"rendered":"

A son-in-law of one of Mexico\u2019s most storied drug kingpins and a man who Mexican officials had described as one of the \u201cmain generators of violence\u201d in the Tijuana region both made initial appearances Wednesday in San Diego federal court, a day after they were expelled from Mexico as part of a deal with the Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Juan Carlos F\u00e9lix Gastelum, son-in-law of jailed Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada, and Pablo Edwin Huerta Nu\u00f1o, who was arrested in June in Tijuana<\/a>, both face indictments alleging international drug importation conspiracies, among other counts.<\/p>\n

Attorneys representing both men asked the court to enter not guilty pleas to all counts. The attorneys also declined to comment on the allegations against their clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who export dangerous drugs and smuggle aliens to the United States while seeking to evade capture will find no place to hide,\u201d San Diego-area U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement. \u201cToday is a win, but justice is not satisfied. The work of the Homeland Security Task Forces ensures that the indictment of high-level targets will remain a top priority nationally, but especially, in the Southern District of California.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two men were among 26 alleged cartel figures that Mexican authorities expelled to the United States on Tuesday.\u00a0Mexican officials said Wednesday<\/a> that the Trump administration had requested those individuals, but their mass expulsion was not part of the wider negotiations involving higher tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Instead, Mexican Security Minister Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch said in a news conference that their removal to the U.S. was designed to \u201cprevent these criminals from continuing to operate from within prisons and to break up their networks of influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilan Katz, a Mexico City-based defense attorney who specializes in white-collar crime, said that reasoning made sense from Mexico\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a proven ability by very, very high-profile drug lords to maintain influence in Mexican prisons,\u201d Katz said. \u201cOne of the best ways to make sure that stops is to transfer them to American prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz said Mexico\u2019s government was taking its toughest stance by sending those individuals to be prosecuted in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst-case scenario for most of these men is not being in prison, it\u2019s being in prison in the U.S.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Huerta, who is known as \u201cEl Flaquito\u201d and allegedly rose to power in Tijuana by deploying extreme violence, was arrested in June during an early morning operation<\/a> in Tijuana\u2019s Fundadores neighborhood. An indictment unsealed Wednesday revealed that a federal grand jury in San Diego had indicted Huerta one month earlier on charges related to the importation and distribution of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine, as well as a charge related to money laundering.<\/p>\n

Mexican media outlets have identified Huerta as an alleged leader of a remnant cell of the once-powerful Arellano F\u00e9lix Organization. That cell<\/a> is reportedly allied<\/a> with one of the two main factions of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, according to the University of San Diego\u2019s Justice in Mexico project.<\/p>\n

Zeta Tijuana, an investigative magazine, reported in 2023 that Huerta\u2019s Arellano F\u00e9lix cell had colluded with corrupt Tijuana police officers to steal a massive drug shipment<\/a> from a rival Sinaloa faction \u2014 an episode that prompted cartel hitmen to hunt down and kill<\/a> the dirty cops.<\/p>\n

When Huerta was arrested, Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar \u00c1vila called it \u201cone of the most significant hits (to organized crime) in the state.\u201d Baja California\u2019s security secretary said Huerta was responsible \u201cfor drug trafficking \u2026 as well as stealing drugs from opposing groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huerta had repeatedly evaded capture over the years, according to Mexican news reports, including in December 2023, when he allegedly sought medical help at a hospital after being shot. Authorities rushed to surround the hospital, but Huerta allegedly escaped anyway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

F\u00e9lix Gastelum, known as \u201cEl Chavo F\u00e9lix,\u201d was arrested in January in Culiac\u00e1n, Sinaloa, the stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel. F\u00e9lix is married to a daughter of Zambada, who once led the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Documents unsealed Wednesday revealed that prosecutors in San Diego secured an indictment against F\u00e9lix nearly three years ago, in September 2022. The indictment accuses him of an international conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and conspiracy to import cocaine and methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice said Tuesday that F\u00e9lix was a \u201cprincipal operator\u201d of the Sinaloa Cartel\u2019s hidden meth labs in Mexico\u2019s Sierra Madre.<\/p>\n

Also sent from Mexico to San Diego was Sierra Leone national Abdul Karim Conteh, the reputed leader of a Tijuana-based international criminal group<\/a> suspected of smuggling thousands of undocumented migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East into the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"AbdulAbdul Karim Conteh of Sierra Leone (U.S. Department of the Treasury)<\/p>\n

Mexican authorities arrested Conteh in July 2024 in Tijuana. His arrest was announced the same day the U.S. Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions against his alleged human-smuggling organization.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s mass expulsion by Mexico was the second of its kind in recent months. In February, Mexico handed over 29 other alleged cartel figures<\/a>, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the 1985 killing of Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique \u201cKiki\u201d Camarena.<\/p>\n

The February transfers came just days before 25% tariffs on Mexican imports were to take effect, while top Mexican officials were in the U.S. trying to negotiate a halt to the tariffs. Tuesday\u2019s transfers came weeks after Trump and Mexican President\u00a0Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to pause 30% tariffs for another 90 days while negotiations continue.<\/p>\n

Katz, the Mexican defense attorney, said Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs are the \u201celephant in every room\u201d when it comes to U.S.-Mexico diplomacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think these expulsions have a lot more to do with a Mexican government that\u2019s doing its best effort of changing the way of organized violence in the country,\u201d Katz said. \u201cThis is the best way to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 13, 2025 at 7:15 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A son-in-law of one of Mexico\u2019s most storied drug kingpins and a man who Mexican officials had described…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,55354,1582,276,356,5295,1370,728,50,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-144013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-border-baja-california","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-courts","13":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-san-diego","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-top-stories-sdut","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115024889634686427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}