MEXICO CITY — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday denounced as a “total disgrace” the Trump administration’s apparent decision to allow 17 relatives of Mexico’s most notorious drug trafficker—Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán— to enter the United States.
“Donald Trump and Republicans love to talk tough about how they’re tough on border security,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “So, you can imagine our surprise to read that President Trump is making deals with drug cartels … to come into our country.”
The 17 relatives of El Chapo — co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, one of six Mexican criminal syndicates that the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations — crossed on foot from Tijuana into San Diego last week as part of an apparent plea deal between U.S. prosecutors and representatives of one of El Chapo’s imprisoned sons, Ovidio Guzman López. The son is facing federal drug smuggling charges in Chicago.
“Donald Trump has no problem deporting U.S. citizens, but he will grant parole for the family of drug traffickers,” Schumer said.
The transfer of El Chapo’s relatives to San Diego was first reported in the Mexican media, and later confirmed by Mexico’s security chief, Omar García Harfuch, who said the Mexican government was not notified in advance. On Wednesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum complained that U.S. authorities had failed to notify their Mexican counterparts about the operation.
El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a so-called supermax prison in Colorado after his 2019 conviction in federal court in Brooklyn on narcotics trafficking and other charges.
Among the El Chapo relatives allowed to enter San Diego via the San Ysidro crossing from Tijuana, according to Mexican media accounts, were his ex-wife, a daughter, a son-in-law, a grandson and several nephews and nieces. U.S. agents met them on the San Diego side and whisked them away, Mexican journalists reported.
The U.S. Justice Department has declined to comment.
Since taking office, Trump has stressed his desire to crack down on both illegal immigration and drug smuggling from Mexico.
“Republicans should be up in arms,” Schumer, of New York, said. “If you’re related to El Chapo, Donald Trump says: ‘Come right in. Welcome to America.’ He’ll roll out the red carpet.”
Authorities have not disclosed the current whereabouts of the 17 El Chapo relatives. It is unclear if they are in protective custody or are receiving other benefits from the U.S. government.
In Mexico, security experts say, El Chapo’s relatives could be in danger because of the bloody factional conflict currently raging among rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel.
