WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 25: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared during a Senate Committee on Intelligence Hearing on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Despite a decline in fentanyl overdose deaths, her team ranked smuggling and drug cartels as top threats to U.S. security. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption
In this image released by the FBI shows the wanted posted for Rafael Caro Quintero. AP/FBI hide caption
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum gives her daily morning press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. Marco Ugarte/AP hide caption
President Trump signs executive actions at the White House after his inauguration Monday. Among those orders is one labeling Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent checks pedestrians' documentation at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Ysidro, California. A growing number of experts believe the flow of deadly street fentanyl from Mexico into the U.S. has been disrupted, contributing to a drop in fatal overdoses. Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
This image provided by the U.S. Department of State shows Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. AP/U.S. Department of State hide caption
Attorney General Merrick Garland announces the Justice Department charged several leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, a transnational drug trafficking organization based in Sinaloa, Mexico, and several of its facilitators across the world. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption
A small line of cars waits to cross the Cordova Bridge of the Americas at the United States-Mexico border in 2020. On March 10, Texan officials advised against spring break travel to Mexico, citing the dangers of violent crime. Paul Ratje/Agence France-Presse/AFP via Get hide caption
Matamoros, Mexico, is a stronghold for various criminal organizations, particularly the Gulf Cartel. U.S. and Mexican officials say four U.S. citizens were abducted at gunpoint in the city on Friday. Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Journalist and activist Gildo Garza, right, reads the names of murdered journalists at a demonstration outside the federal attorney general's office in Mexico City. Courtesy Gildo Garza hide caption
Court documents state that Emma Coronel Aispuro (center) controlled a vast fortune earned from the sale of multi-ton cocaine, heroin and marijuana shipments. Craig Ruttle/AP hide caption
Pedestrians walk past Mexico's Consulate General in Los Angeles in October, shortly after ex-Mexican Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda's arrest at Los Angeles International Airport at the DEA's request. Charges were later dropped. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
President Trump said in an interview this week that he intends to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations despite resistance from Mexican officials. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
Members of the extended LeBaron family were caught in a brutal attack, Mexican officials say. Here, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador looks on as Security Minister Alfonso Durazo discusses the attack during a news conference Tuesday morning. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador via Facebook hide caption
Forensic personnel load the corpse of a man into a van, after he was executed at a shopping mall in Acapulco, Mexico, on April 24, 2018. A new report recorded more than 33,000 homicides in 2018, making it the country's deadliest on record. Francisco Robles/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Mexican navy members and federal police take part in an operation in Acapulco in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, on Tuesday to disarm local police. Francisco Robles/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Mexican journalist Javier Valdez speaks at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016. He was killed by a gunman on Monday. Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Nayarit state Attorney General Edgar Veytia was arrested on drug trafficking charges at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. Here, the Nayarit state attorney general's headquarters is seen in Tepic, Mexico. Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Mexican state police stand guard in May 2015 near a shootout between authorities and suspected criminals in Michoacan. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said Thursday that 22 people were arbitrarily killed by federal police during that raid. Refugio Ruiz/AP hide caption
A Mexican soldier stands guard next to marijuana packages in Tijuana following the discovery of a tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border in 2010. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde, spokesman for the Autodefensas, a militia organized against the Knights Templar mob. The Orchard hide caption
The alleged leader of the Zetas drug cartel, Omar Trevino Morales, is taken under custody to be presented to the press at the Attorney General Office's hangar at the airport in Mexico City, on March 4. Mexican authorities captured Trevino Wednesday, dealing a blow to the feared gang and giving the embattled government a second major arrest in a week. Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Armed members of the Self-Defense Council of Michoacan patrol a checkpoint set up by the self-defense group. Eduardo Verdugo/AP hide caption
Pablo Cote holds a photo of his deceased father of the same name in July 2013 in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Cote was kidnapped while driving back from the U.S. border to the east-central state of Tlaxcala. He was beaten to death, part of the mass killing of 193 bus passengers and other travelers by the Zetas. Ivan Pierre Aguirre/AP hide caption