Amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on drug smuggling across the country’s southern border, news outlets reported that his administration made a deal with 17 cartel family members allowing them to enter the United States, according to a Mexican security chief.
Many of these stories framed the security chief’s statement as confirmation that the deal occurred. The Associated Press (AP), for example, wrote that, “Mexico’s security chief confirmed Tuesday that 17 family members of cartel leaders crossed into the U.S. last week as part of a deal between a son of the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Trump administration.” The Sinaloa Cartel is a global criminal enterprise and one of two drug cartels “at the heart” of illicit drug-related dealings in the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The stories spread on social media platforms like Bluesky, X, Facebook, and Reddit. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, accused Trump of allowing “17 relatives of El Chapo, one of the most notorious cartel drug dealers in the world, into America.”
“What kind of message does that send? Who the hell knows? Maybe you got a presidential helicopter from them, who knows?” Schumer said in a May 16 Facebook video, referencing Qatar’s offer of a Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to the Trump administration.
It is true that Mexico’s security chief, Omar Hamid García Harfuch, said that 17 family members of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is imprisoned in the United States, crossed into America, apparently confirming reporting from independent journalist Luis Chaparro.
García Harfuch told reporters it looked clear to Mexican authorities that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) granted the family members entry as part of a deal with Guzmán’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is also a suspected member of the cartel’s leadership. However, until the Trump administration confirms a deal occurred and the details of the purported deal, or documents verifying the deal took place, are made public, Snopes cannot put a truthfulness rating on this statement. We reached out to the administration and await a response.
Mexican authorities arrested Guzmán López in 2023 and extradited him to the United States, where the government charged him with various drug trafficking-related offenses; he is expected to plead guilty on July 9, 2025, as part of a plea deal, per court documents filed May 6, 2025 — but details of the deal were not yet public as of this writing.
Journalist breaks story, citing anonymous sources
On May 12, 2025, Chaparro posted a video titled, “LUN 12 MAY | EXCLUSIVA: LA FAMILIA DEL CHAPO SE ENTREGA AL GOBIERNO FEDERAL DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS” on his YouTube channel — translated into English, his video title said: “MON, MAY 12 | EXCLUSIVE: EL CHAPO’S FAMILY SURRENDERS TO THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.”
Here’s a transcript of his report citing anonymous sources, starting at 2:21, translated into English from Spanish with the help of Snopes reporters who speak Spanish (emphasis ours):
Seventeen members of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s family, including a daughter and Ovidio Guzmán’s mother, surrendered to the FBI LAST weekend at one of the international bridges between Mexico and the United States.
According to reports from our sources, the family surrendered to the FBI at noon last Friday at the San Ysidro border port in Tijuana. And according to the same sources, among these people are Griselda López, Ovidio’s mother, several nephews, a grandson named Archivaldo and a daughter of “El Chapo” along with a son-in-law of the drug trafficker.
It is currently unknown why they surrendered, but the fact that they turned themselves in to agents who were already waiting for them is probably linked to the deal Ovidio Guzmán allegedly made with the United States government last week. The family reportedly arrived with several suitcases, at least two brand-name suitcases for each member, and between them all they were carrying more than 70,000 in cash.
Chaparro also shared pictures of what he alleged were the family members at the border in his report at 3:19, but censored the faces. NBC Chicago’s investigative team on May 13 also reported, using anonymous federal sources, that “the immigration of 17 Chapo relatives, including a sister, was part of the deal that resulted in Ovidio’s guilty plea.”
Mexican officials corroborate the report
Then, on May 13, Mexican talk radio station Radio Fórmula published an interview with García Harfuch, wherein the security chief said the transfer of El Chapo’s relatives was part of a “negotiation” between the U.S. Justice Department and representatives of Guzmán López.
Here’s the interview, translated into English (emphasis ours):
Journalist: How should we read this news, Omar, which is on the front pages of virtually every national newspaper today, about Ovidio Guzmán’s family surrendering to the United States authorities, the FBI… 17 people? Were the facts as reported, and if so, where does this decision come from, or are they colluding with the United States? How should we read it, Omar?
García Harfuch: I think it’s very clear that when — it’s very clear that when Ovidio — we must first highlight who detained Ovidio. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in a Mexican army operation where fellow special forces soldiers were killed. Once the Mexican army arrested Ovidio, Mexico handed him over… extradited him to the United States. Ovidio, as we all saw on the news, began negotiations with the United States Department of Justice, and it’s clear that since his family was leaving for the United States, it was because of this negotiation or an opportunity that the Department of Justice itself granted him. Let’s also remember that this conflict in Sinaloa is understood to be an issue between the brothers themselves, and includes Ovidio and Ovidio’s brothers, where they pointed fingers at other groups in the criminal organization, and it’s clear that this is what’s happening.
Journalist: So is it an agreement between a defendant in the United States and the authority that is prosecuting him?
García Harfuch: That’s right.
Click here to read the full article by Grace Deng on Snopes
Source: Snopes
