Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers on Wednesday, simply days after combating influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a high-profile match in Anaheim, Calif.
Chávez was arrested for overstaying his visa and mendacity on a inexperienced card software and might be deported to Mexico, the place he faces prices of involvement in organized crime and arms trafficking, U.S. federal officers mentioned Thursday.
The Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) mentioned officers decided that Chávez ought to be arrested on June 27, a day earlier than his match in opposition to Paul. It was unclear why they waited to behave for days after the high-profile occasion.
DHS additionally mentioned in an announcement that Chávez “can also be believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a delegated Overseas Terrorist Group.”
“This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate with an lively arrest warrant for trafficking weapons, ammunition, and explosives was arrested by ICE. It’s stunning the earlier administration flagged this prison unlawful alien as a public security menace, however selected to not prioritize his elimination and let him go away and COME BACK into our nation,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin mentioned.
“Beneath President Trump, nobody is above the regulation—together with world-famous athletes. Our message to any cartel associates within the U.S. is evident: We are going to discover you and you’ll face penalties. The times of unchecked cartel violence are over.”
A spokesperson for Mexico’s Lawyer Common’s Workplace instructed the New York Occasions that U.S. authorities had knowledgeable Mexican officers about Chávez’s detention and mentioned “they’ve began the corresponding process for his extradition to Mexico.” A spokesperson added that the warrant for Chávez was issued in March 2023.
The 39-year-old boxer was picked up on Wednesday by numerous federal brokers whereas he was driving a scooter in entrance of a house the place he resides within the upscale Los Angeles neighbourhood of Studio Metropolis close to Hollywood, in response to his lawyer, Michael Goldstein.
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“The present allegations are outrageous and easily one other headline to terrorize the group,” Goldstein mentioned.
Goldstein mentioned he didn’t know the place Chávez was being detained as of Thursday morning, however mentioned he and his shopper had been due in court docket on July 7 in reference to prior gun possession prices.
Chávez’s household issued an announcement Thursday afternoon in help of him.
“We have now full confidence in his innocence,” they mentioned in an announcement to the Los Angeles Occasions. “We firmly imagine that the correct course is to permit the competent authorities to hold out their work with out exterior strain or hypothesis.”
Earlier than his bout with Paul on June 28, Chávez had fought simply as soon as since 2021, having fallen to innumerable lows throughout a prolonged boxing profession carried out within the shadow of his father, Julio César Chávez, one of the beloved athletes in Mexican historical past and a member of the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame who held 5 completely different world titles in 4 completely different weight lessons.
Jake Paul and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. alternate punches throughout their cruiserweight bout of the Premiere Boxing Championship on Saturday night time at Honda Heart in Anaheim, Calif., on June 28, 2025.
025. (Picture by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu through Getty Photographs
DHS shared Chávez’s rap sheet in its announcement, which incorporates an arrest in 2012 the place he was convicted of drunk driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in jail.
It additionally included an arrest warrant for Chávez in January 2023 for “the offense of organized crime for the aim of committing crimes of weapons trafficking and manufacturing crimes, within the modality of those that take part in clandestinely bringing weapons, ammunition, cartridges, explosives into the nation; and those that manufacture weapons, ammunition, cartridges, and explosives with out the corresponding allow.”
He was additionally arrested on gun prices in January 2024. Police mentioned he possessed two AR-style ghost rifles. He was later freed on a US$50,000 bond and on the situation that he went to a residential drug remedy facility. The case remains to be pending, with Chávez reporting his progress repeatedly.
Chávez break up his time between Mexico and the US. ICE officers detained him for overstaying a vacationer visa that he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned.
The company additionally mentioned Chávez submitted a number of fraudulent statements when he utilized for everlasting residency on April 2, 2024, primarily based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muñoz. She was beforehand married to Edgar Guzmán López, son of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. Guzmán López was killed in a 2008 gun battle in Mexico’s Sinaloa state.
— With information from The Related Press
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