Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government has “no information” regarding claims by the Trump administration that Mexican cartels are offering bounties for US immigration officials.
“We are requesting information but there is none,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Wednesday. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently alleged that Mexican crime factions were coordinating with US-based gangs to target agency officials, with bounties ranging from $2,000 for revealing agents’ identities to $50,000 for assassinating high-ranking officials.
But organised crime experts expressed deep scepticism. Former Sinaloa cartel trafficker Margarito Flores, who now trains law enforcement, dismissed the claims as “ridiculous”, noting that targeting US officials would bring unwanted attention. “There’s the unspoken rule that you don’t mess with law enforcement,” he said.
Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, agreed: “The cartels are not going to target Ice and CBP because it would bring more heat on them.” The origin of the allegations remains murky, with DHS citing an informant claim about a Latin Kings “hit” on the border patrol chief, but providing no evidence linking it to Mexican cartels.
Associate professor Nathan P Jones of Sam Houston State University said: “I am immediately skeptical that this is an actual threat.” Historical precedent, such as the 1985 killing of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, shows that attacking US officials leads to severe crackdowns, which cartels avoid.
