An indictment unsealed May 16 in the Western District of Texas is the first in the nation to charge a Mexican national with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization based on her involvement with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, including providing the cartel with grenades and engaging in alien smuggling, firearms trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, and narcotics trafficking on its behalf, following a groundbreaking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and joint law enforcement partner investigation.
“We will never allow criminal gangs and cartels to terrorise American communities,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. “The days of unchecked gang and cartel violence are over.”
“Cartels like CJNG are terrorist groups that wreak havoc in American communities and are responsible for countless lives lost in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
According to court documents, Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, 39, of Mexico, conspired with others to provide and did attempt to provide grenades to CJNG, a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
Additionally, Navarro-Sanchez is charged with conspiracy to smuggle and transport aliens in the United States, straw purchasing and trafficking in firearms, bulk cash smuggling conspiracy, and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
Co-defendant Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez, 27, of Mexico, is charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens into and transport aliens in the United States, straw purchasing and firearms trafficking.
Co-defendant Gustavo Castro-Medina, 28, of Mexico, is charged with straw purchasing and firearms trafficking, conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
On February 20, the U.S. Department of State announced the designation of eight international cartels, including CJNG, as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and specially designated global terrorists.
This designation makes available much stronger criminal charges in the fight to secure our nation’s borders.
CJNG is a transnational criminal organisation that controls a significant portion of the narcotics trafficking trade and has a presence in nearly every part of Mexico and dozens of other countries, including the United States.
In addition to trafficking fentanyl, CJNG engages in money laundering, bribery, extortion of migrants, taxing of migrant smugglers, and other criminal activities, including acts of violence and intimidation.
According to the State Department, CJNG has conducted attacks on Mexican military and police with military grade weaponry, the use of drones to drop explosives on Mexican law enforcement, and assassinations or attempted assassinations of Mexican officials.
On January 20, President Trump directed ICE, the Justice Department and other agencies to pursue the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organisations because they pose extremely serious threats to the United States, including by jeopardising a stable and secure border.
These and other criminal organisations commit brutal and intolerable violent crimes related to narcotics and firearms trafficking, money laundering, extortion, and other criminal acts. They are also responsible for huge flows of illegal immigration into the United States.
They organise and facilitate all manners of illicit travel and immigration into the United States through the southern and northern borders and rely on co-conspirators and organisation members operating in various countries throughout North and South America. This situation is untenable and threatens our national security.
ICE, DOJ and its law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the United States against invasion, working urgently toward the goal of total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organisations, aggressively enforcing our immigration laws, and maximising the impact and effectiveness of all available law enforcement tools.
