The Trump administration successfully captured a top cartel leader at the U.S.-Mexico border, one who was on the run from American authorities for nearly 30 years.

Federal immigration officials on Friday nabbed Jaime Rene Huereca Casavantes, a longtime leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, according to an announcement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). The agency, along with Customs and Border Protection and other federal law enforcement, arrested Casavantes at the Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas. (RELATED: ICE Office Set Ablaze In Sanctuary State As Attacks Against Agency Rack Up)

“A dangerous Sinaloa Cartel leader was just captured at the southern border after two decades of running drug and money ops for transnational gangs,” NCTC Director Joe Kent said in a public statement on Wednesday.

“Thanks to intelligence provided by NCTC, and the swift law enforcement action of our partners [ at the U.S. Marshal Service], this criminal is finally off our streets — a direct result of [President Donald Trump’s and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s] efforts to secure our border and keep Americans safe,” Kent said.

Sinaloa Leader. Image courtesy of NCTC Director Joe Kent.

Casavantes escaped from an American prison in 1997 and fled to Mexico, spending the years since orchestrating wide-scale drug trafficking and money laundering operations for the Sinaloa Cartel and other criminal syndicates, according to the NCTC. The Trump administration is framing his apprehension as a “significant blow” to cartel operations, which have been heavily targeted since Trump re-entered office.

On his first day back in the White House, the Republican president signed an executive order designating the Sinaloa Cartel and other similar criminal enterprises as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, allowing U.S. law enforcement officials to utilize more resources to dismantle them. The Sinaloa Cartel, in particular, has been described by the Drug Enforcement Administration as one of the main purveyors of the synthetic drug crisis in the U.S.

In a separate public statement, Kent said Trump’s executive order was a crucial factor in obliterating one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico.

“Thanks to President Trump’s Executive Order designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, we can now utilize a whole-of-government approach to disrupt the Sinaloa Cartel’s deadly fentanyl and illicit drug operations and protecting the homeland from foreign terrorist gangs and cartels,” Kent said.

Pressured in large part by U.S. demands and threats, Mexico has also stepped up its enforcement against organized crime. The Mexican government in February seized nearly $40 million worth of methamphetamine in the state of Sinaloa, the heart of the cartel’s operation.

The enormous confiscation came just weeks after Mexico caved to sweeping tariff threats by the Trump administration. Faced with the prospect of 25% tariffs on all goods exported to the U.S., her country’s largest trading partner, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in February agreed to help stem the flow of illegal immigration and illicit drugs by beefing up border security.

The Trump administration Wednesday said the arrests of top criminal leaders will remain a top priority.

“Locating and arresting escaped federal prisoners is a core mission of the U.S. Marshals Service. We are relentless,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said in a public statement.

“No guilty person shall escape justice, and the United States Marshals Service will not rest until we find you and return you to prison to serve out your lawful federal sentence,” Serralta said.

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