Mexico Fires Back at U.S. Over Extradition, Requests Reciprocity

(MENAFN) Mexico has fired back at Washington over extradition, with President Claudia Sheinbaum revealing Tuesday that the United States has rejected or effectively shelved 269 extradition requests submitted by Mexican authorities — even as the Trump administration presses Mexico City to hand over 10 officials tied to the country's ruling party.

"There has been no extradition of any of these alleged criminals to Mexico. In other words, what Mexico has always asked for — at least under our administration — is reciprocity. Why have none of them been extradited if these are significant cases and reciprocity exists?" Sheinbaum said during her daily briefing.

Records show that between January 2018 and May 13, 2026, Mexico lodged 269 formal extradition requests with US authorities. Not a single individual has been transferred, and 36 requests have been outright denied. Of the 233 remaining unresolved cases, Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Alvarez confirmed that 183 are currently navigating US judicial channels.

The requests span a broad range of serious offenses, including organized crime, corruption, and enforced disappearances. Among the most prominent cases is that of former Tamaulipas governor Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, wanted on charges of money laundering, illicit enrichment, and organized crime, with an active Mexican arrest warrant dating to 2022. Accused in 2021 of maintaining ties to the Gulf Cartel — one of Mexico's most powerful and brutal criminal organizations historically rooted in Tamaulipas — Garcia Cabeza de Vaca fled to the United States in 2022 and has since been living in Dallas, Texas.

The standoff intensified in April when the US government formally sought the extradition of 10 Mexican officials allegedly linked to the ruling Morena party on drug trafficking charges. While two of the individuals have voluntarily surrendered to US authorities and Mexican financial regulators have frozen the assets of all 10 suspects, Mexico City has withheld extradition approval, demanding more substantial evidence from the Trump administration to back its allegations.

Foreign Minister Velasco Alvarez underscored that both nations are bound by a bilateral extradition treaty under which neither side is compelled to extradite its own citizens — a power he characterized as "discretionary."

"We are obligated to conduct a thorough review of all the evidence and arguments contained in extradition requests before handing over a Mexican national," he explained.

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