federal drug trafficking charges<\/a> in Chicago.<\/p>\nLast year, on Dec. 17, according to the Homeland Security news release, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made a referral to ICE that Ch\u00e1vez was \u201can egregious public safety threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, an entry in a DHS law enforcement system under the Biden administration indicated Ch\u00e1vez was not an immigration enforcement priority,\u201d the release stated.<\/p>\n
According to the release, Ch\u00e1vez was allowed to reenter the country on Jan. 4 at the San Ysidro port of entry. <\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing multiple fraudulent statements on his application to become a Lawful Permanent Resident, he was determined to be in the country illegally and removable on June 27,\u201d the Homeland Security release stated.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez has been in the boxing spotlight since childhood, often walking to the ring alongside his father. He began his professional career in 2003 and reached the pinnacle in 2011 when he won the WBC middleweight title against Sebastian Zbik. He defended the belt three times before losing it to Sergio Mart\u00ednez in 2012.<\/p>\n
However, his career has been plagued by discipline issues, substance abuse, and struggles with making weight. In 2017, he faced fellow Mexican star Sa\u00fal \u201cCanelo\u201d \u00c1lvarez, suffering a lopsided unanimous decision loss that marked a turning point in his career\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n
Nicknamed \u201cEl Hijo de la Leyenda\u201d (\u201cSon of the Legend\u201d) or simply \u201cJR,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez Jr. has had legal and personal troubles in recent years. He was arrested on suspicion of weapons possession and later entered a residential rehab facility. His battle with addiction has frequently played out in the public eye, including viral social media disputes with his father, one of his most vocal critics, yet also his most steadfast supporter.<\/p>\n
According to Homeland Security, Ch\u00e1vez was convicted in 2012 of driving under the influence of alcohol and was sentenced to 13 days in jail and 36 months of probation.<\/p>\n
Goldstein, Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s lawyer, noted that his client is a public figure who has been living and working in the U.S. without issue in recent weeks. Goldstein pointed to his recent fight, saying, \u201cHis workouts were open to the public and afforded law enforcement countless opportunities to contact him if he was indeed a public threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been focused on his own personal growth and mental health,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cHe is in full compliance with his mental health diversion and all court obligations. For this reason, we fully expect his only pending case to be dismissed as required by statute.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2023, according to Homeland Security, a judge in Mexico issued an arrest warrant for Ch\u00e1vez \u201cfor the offense of organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes of weapons trafficking and manufacturing crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The release said the warrant was for \u201cthose who participate in clandestinely bringing weapons, ammunition, cartridges, explosives into the country; and those who manufacture weapons, ammunition, cartridges, and explosives without the corresponding permit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexican authorities, who typically do not reveal the full names of suspects in criminal cases, said Thursday that federal prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for Julio \u201cC\u201d in March 2023 for organized crime and arms trafficking. A news release from Mexico\u2019s equivalent of the attorney general\u2019s office said U.S. officials had started the process of turning him over to face justice.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s family issued a statement Thursday afternoon that said, \u201cWe reiterate our total and unconditional support to Julio.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have full confidence in his innocence,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe firmly believe that the proper course is to allow the competent authorities to carry out their work without external pressure or speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico City bureau chief Patrick J. McDonnell contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States immigration agents have detained prominent Mexican boxer Julio C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Jr. and are working to deport…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[29995,29998,20683,9958,4219,29996,17246,409,29997,50,3215,1408,9615,1439,67,132,68,18025],"class_list":{"0":"post-36818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-ammunition","10":"tag-cartridge","11":"tag-chavez-jr","12":"tag-country","13":"tag-crime","14":"tag-explosive","15":"tag-homeland-security","16":"tag-immigration","17":"tag-last-month","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-news-release","20":"tag-official","21":"tag-sinaloa-cartel","22":"tag-u-s","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-weapon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114792432092052665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36818","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=36818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}