In a historic move, Mexico extradited 29 alleged cartel figures, including notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, to the United States on February 27, facing charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder. This mass transfer, one of the largest in recent memory, signals a shift in U.S.-Mexico security cooperation under pressure from the Trump administration’s looming 25% tariff threat on Mexican imports.

Caro Quintero, 72, a co-founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, tops the list. Wanted for the 1985 kidnapping, torture, and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, he spent 28 years in Mexican prison before a controversial 2013 release on a technicality. Recaptured in 2022 after a Mexican Navy operation, his extradition to New York fulfills a decades-long U.S. pursuit. “Justice has found him,” DEA Acting Administrator Derek Maltz said, calling it a victory for Camarena’s family.

The group also includes Miguel and Omar Treviño Morales (Z-40 and Z-42), ex-leaders of the brutal Zetas cartel, accused of running the Northeast Cartel from prison, and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, former Juárez Cartel boss. Flown from Mexican prisons to eight U.S. cities, they face racketeering, drug trafficking, and firearms charges, with the U.S. Justice Department labeling them “Foreign Terrorist Organization” members—a Trump-era designation.

The extraditions align with high-level talks in Washington between Mexican officials and U.S. counterparts, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as Mexico seeks to avert tariffs set for March 4. Analysts see this as a concession by President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, reversing her predecessor’s resistance to U.S. demands.