Several cartel operatives said that for the first time in years, they genuinely feared arrest or death at the hands of the authorities.

Mexico extradited more than two dozen cartel members to the United States on Thursday as the U.S.’s tariff implementation date approaches. The extradited figures include a cartel boss complicit in the murder and torture of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1985.

The United States has threatened Mexico with military action if it does not manage the drug cartels effectively. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth stated that if Mexico does not address the collusion between its government and drug cartels,