Acting ICE director Todd Lyons said the suspect’s alleged crimes were a ‘direct assault on the security of the United States.’
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 16 indicted a Mexican national for allegedly providing material support to a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, the first indictment of its kind in the United States.
Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, 39, was accused of supplying grenades to the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico’s powerful transnational criminal organizations, according to the DOJ.
Navarro-Sanchez was charged with conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States, straw purchasing and trafficking firearms, and possessing drugs with intent to distribute.
Her two co-defendants, Luis Carlos Davalos-Lopez and Gustavo Castro-Medina, both Mexican nationals, also faced firearm trafficking charges, according to the department.
“Supplying grenades to a designated terrorist organization—while trafficking firearms, narcotics, and human beings—is not just criminal; it’s a direct assault on the security of the United States,” acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Todd Lyons stated.
The DOJ also released photos showing what appeared to be “man-made tunnel” used to smuggle illegal immigrants from Mexico into the United States, along with firearms and packages of meth and fentanyl, which are allegedly connected to the case.
U.S. authorities seized about 20 AK-47-type firearms and two rifles in the Western District of Texas on Aug. 21, 2023, according to the DOJ.
The statement also included a photo of a multi-caliber AR-15 rifle known as “El Dorado” that was recovered from Navarro-Sanchez’s possession during her arrest in Mexico on May 4.
FBI director Kash Patel stated that Navarro-Sanchez’s arrest sends a clear message to those who get involved with terrorist groups that they “will be sought out and held to the highest extent of the law.”
“We will never allow criminal gangs and cartels to terrorize American communities,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said in a statement. “The days of unchecked gang and cartel violence are over.”
It is unclear whether the defendants have been appointed legal representation.
