A U.S. citizen is now the leader of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel, creating a headache for the Trump administration as laws and procedural requirements surrounding the surveillance, apprehension, or potential elimination of a U.S. citizen operating abroad are highly bureaucratic, New York Post reports.
Juan Carlos Valencia, 41, was born in Santa Ana, Calif. He is the stepson of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, who was killed during a Mexican military anti-drug operation in March.
He already faces pending federal drug trafficking charges and organized crime charges in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with a $5 million bounty placed on his head by the State Department in 2021.
His U.S. citizenship makes his physical extradition easier but finding him harder.
U.S. intelligence agencies operate under strict constitutional and legal limits when directly surveilling, collecting data, on or wiretapping American citizens overseas.
Foreign cartel bosses have no rights under the U.S. Constitution. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has established that the Fourth Amendment protects American citizens even when they are outside the United States.
To intercept his communications legally, federal investigators must first convince a U.S. judge that probable cause exists — a more cumbersome and time-consuming process than monitoring foreign targets.
A former U.S. law enforcement official who was once assigned to Mexico told The Post that Washington must now decide whether — and how — to intensify its pursuit of the newly ascendant, American-born cartel leader.
“It should change the rules of engagement,” the former official said. “We are not supposed to conduct an operation that puts a U.S. citizen in danger. He has dual citizenship, but his U.S. citizenship should still protect him from the standard protocol of launching an operation that could place his life in unnecessary jeopardy.”
“The U.S. will never say that they’re the ones who coordinated an operation because it’s Mexican soil and its Mexican sovereignty,” the person added.