Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Two Mexican nationals pleaded guilty today to multiple charges including alien smuggling and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
“The defendants smuggled methamphetamine and aliens into the United States for financial gain, then doubled down to make more money by conspiring to export AK-47 style weapons and .50 caliber rifles to Mexico for CJNG, a terrorist organization that has destroyed lives and caused death in our great country,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant’s conduct directly threatened the national security of the United States and the well-being of American citizens.”
“The Trump Administration’s designation of CJNG as foreign terrorist organization, along with 19 other cartels and transnational criminal organizations, gives us another powerful tool in our fight against those who place their profits over the lives and wellbeing of others,” said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas. “The conviction of Navarro Sanchez for providing support to a foreign terrorist organization is one of many to come as we continue to hit these FTOs where they are most vulnerable — their pocketbooks. I am very proud of our Assistant U.S. Attorneys and our law enforcement partners with the Homeland Security Task Force for their work in making this conviction possible.”
“This is but two more guilty pleas added in DEA’s long and sustained efforts against CJNG and its supporters,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert “Eric” Castañeda of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) El Paso Division. “Charges now carry more weight under CJNG’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization. Anyone seeking to profit from the deaths of Americans, no matter their level of involvement, will be brought to justice.”
According to court documents, Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, 40, of Mexico, conspired with others to provide material support to CJNG by trafficking firearms from the United States to Mexico, for the express purpose of delivering those firearms to members of the CJNG. Navarro Sanchez knew CJNG engaged in terrorist activities, including hostage taking, committing assassinations, and using explosives, firearms, and weapons in support of these activities. Navarro Sanchez also admitted that she contracted with alien smugglers to illegally bring individuals from Mexico into the United States. At least one of these individuals managed some of Navarro Sanchez’s stash houses in El Paso, Texas where Navarro Sanchez would warehouse firearms and narcotics.
In early August 2023, Navarro Sanchez negotiated a deal to purchase twenty AK-47 style weapons and two .50 caliber rifles from undercover agents. The firearms were intended to be placed in the possession of individuals who would unlawfully smuggle those firearms to Mexico where those firearms would then be used in furtherance of trafficking methamphetamine and other narcotics from Mexico into the United States. Coconspirator Gustavo Castro-Medina, 29, of Mexico, also acknowledged that these firearms were intended to be unlawfully exported from the United States into Mexico in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes.
Castro-Medina served as an intermediary to facilitate the interstate and foreign transfer of $3,000 in U.S. currency via wire to an undercover agent to purchase these firearms for subsequent unlawful transport. The $3,000 was a downpayment on the purchase price of $66,000 in U.S. currency. On Aug. 21, 2023, two co-conspirators of Navarro Sanchez and Castro-Medina arrived at a designated meeting point in El Paso to tender the remaining payment of $63,000 in cash and take possession of the firearms. Once the cash was exchanged, the undercover agents turned over possession of the firearms to the co-conspirators. These co-conspirators were then arrested by waiting agents.
In addition, Castro-Medina also admitted that he was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol in November 2020 driving a Nissan Sentra in Sierra Blanca, Texas. During a secondary inspection of the vehicle, Border Patrol Agents found several tape-wrapped bundles covered in transmission fluid located beneath a non-factory trap door. The bundle tested positive for the properties of crystal methamphetamine. The total weight of the methamphetamine was 36.36 kilograms.
Navarro Sanchez, Castro-Medina, and their co-conspirators were indicted in April 2025. The Government of Mexico, pursuant to its National Security Law, subsequently transferred Navarro Sanchez and Castro-Medina to the United States.
Navarro Sanchez pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of conspiracy to engage in firearms trafficking, one count of conspiracy to bring aliens, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Navarro Sanchez faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Castro-Medina pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy to engage in firearms trafficking. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Castro-Medina faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, DEA, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in El Paso, assisted by the U.S. Border Patrol, investigated the case. ATF Legal Attachés in Mexico City and Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República Organized Crime Unit (FGR-FEMDO) provided substantial assistance. HSI’s Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C. and CBP’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force also provided assistance with the investigation. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance.
Trial Attorney Marie Zisa of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian Hanna and Gregory McDonald for the Western District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
The investigation and superseding indictment were supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other U.S. Attorney’s Offices throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including HSI and Customs and Border Protection U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 482 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 433 U.S. convictions; and more than 369 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.