Boxer Chavez Jr expected to be deported to Mexico to serve sentence, Mexican president says
FILE PHOTO: Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. enters the ring before his fight against Jake Paul at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, U.S. June 28, 2025. Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images via REUTERS. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES/File Photo
MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that she expects boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr to be deported to Mexico to serve a sentence for arms trafficking after being detained in Los Angeles by U.S. immigration authorities.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence.
Sheinbaum, in her regular morning press conference, said Mexico has had a warrant for his arrest since 2023, stemming from an investigation initiated in 2019. She added that Mexico had failed to bring him into custody over that period as Chavez Jr had spent most of his time in the United States.
"So that there is a deportation and that he can serve the sentence, that's the process the attorney general's office is working on," Sheinbaum told reporters.
On Thursday, Homeland Security said the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of having ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
A lawyer for him called the allegations "outrageous."
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. The son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.
Sheinbaum said she did not know if Chavez Jr had links to the Sinaloa Cartel. REUTERS

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the entrance of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, while Israeli officials hold indirect talks with Hamas, aimed at a U.S.-brokered Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal. Trump said on Sunday there was a good chance such a deal could be reached this week. The right-wing Israeli leader said he believed his discussions with Trump would help advance talks underway in Qatar. It will be Netanyahu's third White House visit since Trump returned to office in January, and follows Trump's order last month for U.S. air strikes against Iran and a subsequent ceasefire halting the 12-day Israel-Iran war. Israel is hoping that its 12-day war with Iran will also pave the way for new diplomatic opportunities in the region. Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, said he expected Trump's meeting with the Israeli leader would go beyond Gaza to include the possibility of normalising ties with Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia. "I think it will first of all be focused on a term we have often used but now has real meaning; a new Middle East," he told Israel's public broadcaster Kan on Monday. Ahead of the visit, Netanyahu told reporters he would thank Trump for the U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and said Israeli negotiators were driving for a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar's capital. Israel and Hamas were set to hold a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on Monday. An Israeli official described the atmosphere so far at the Gaza talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, as positive. Palestinian officials said that initial meetings on Sunday had ended inconclusively. A second Israeli official said the issue of humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar, without providing further details. The U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely. Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled. Trump told reporters on Friday it was good that Hamas said it had responded in "a positive spirit" to a U.S.-brokered 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal, and noted that a deal could be reached this week. Some of Netanyahu's hardline coalition partners oppose ending the fighting but, with Israelis having become increasingly weary of the 21-month-old war, his government is expected to back a ceasefire. A ceasefire at the start of this year ended in March, and talks to revive it have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution. "God willing, a truce would take place," Mohammed Al Sawalheh, a 30-year-old Palestinian displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza, told Reuters on Sunday after an Israeli air strike overnight. "We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that would stop this bloodshed." The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates. TRUMP LASHED OUT AT ISRAELI PROSECUTORS Trump has been strongly supportive of Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics last month by lashing out at prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges Netanyahu denies. Trump, who has faced his own legal troubles, argued last week that the judicial process would interfere with Netanyahu's ability to conduct talks with Hamas and Iran. Trump said he expected to discuss Iran and its nuclear ambitions with Netanyahu, lauding the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as a tremendous success. On Friday, he told reporters that he believed Tehran's nuclear program had been set back permanently, although Iran could restart efforts elsewhere. Trump insisted on Friday that he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, and said Tehran wanted to meet with him. Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon. REUTERS

Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Jail for ex-auxiliary police officer who loaded one bullet and accidentally discharged revolver
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Muhammad Mukhlis Kamis, 39, pleaded guilty to committing a rash act endangering personal safety and was sentenced to two months' jail. SINGAPORE – An auxiliary police officer who was tasked to issue weapons at the airport playfully threw a bullet in the air, loaded it into a revolver and accidentally discharged a round into a countertop. Fortunately, one of his colleagues, who was standing in front of him, was not injured. On July 7, Muhammad Mukhlis Kamis, 39, pleaded guilty to committing a rash act endangering personal safety and was sentenced to two months' jail. Mukhlis was employed as an auxiliary police officer with Sats Security Services and held the rank of sergeant at the subsidiary of the cargo handler. He was deployed as an armourer for five years before the incident in November 2023. On Nov 22 morning, Mukhlis was at the Sats Auxiliary Police Armoury at the Singapore Air Freight Terminal Core C Building when another officer, Corporal Zulkarnaen Ramli, went to the armoury to withdraw his equipment and firearms. Cpl Zulkarnaen was supposed to be issued with one Taurus revolver, 10 rounds of 0.38mm ammunition, one extendable baton and one handcuff. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Eligible S'poreans to get up to $850 in GSTV cash, up to $450 in MediSave top-ups in August Singapore Four golf courses to close by 2035, leaving Singapore with 12 courses Singapore Fewer marriages in Singapore in 2024; greater marital stability for recent marriages Singapore Construction starts on Cross Island Line Phase 2; 6 MRT stations in S'pore's west ready by 2032 Asia 72-year-old man on diving trip to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia found dead on the beach Singapore $1.46b nickel scam: Ng Yu Zhi opts to remain silent after judge calls for his defence Asia Bali flights nixed after huge Indonesia volcano eruption Life How to cope with the heat when travelling: 5 expert-backed tips However, Mukhlis issued nine rounds of 0.38mm ammunition instead of 10. When Cpl Zulkarnaen pointed out that he was missing a bullet, Mukhlis took one bullet from below the countertop, threw it up in the air and caught it with his left hand. He then inserted the bullet into the cylinder of the revolver, spun the cylinder and closed the cylinder. Mukhlis held the revolver in his right hand, pointing it downd towards the countertop, which was between him and Cpl Zulkarnaen. Seeing this, Cpl Zulkarnaen stepped back. Suddenly, Mukhlis placed his finger on the trigger of the revolver and pulled it, discharging one round into the armoury countertop. Deputy Public Prosecutor Joseph Gwee said the entire sequence of events from the throwing of the 0.38mm round to it being discharged lasted about five seconds. After the incident, Mukhlis told his supervisors about what had happened, and he was arrested. No one was injured and no repair costs were incurred for the damage to the countertop, said the prosecutor. Mukhlis' defence lawyer, Mr Azri Imran Tan, said his client has since been 'let go' by Sats. DPP Gwee sought a jail term of three to four months, noting that Mukhlis was aware of the serious consequences of loading a live round into a revolver as he was a certified armourer who was entrusted with the role of handling and dispensing weapons. 'There was an element of playfulness in his actions, by throwing the round into the air and catching it with his hand,' added the prosecutor, noting that serious harm or even death could have been caused given the nature of the weapon. In mitigation, Mr Tan urged the court to sentence Mukhlis to no more than one to two months' jail. Mr Tan said: 'To this day, our client cannot explain what drove him to decide to – foolishly – load the revolver. Whatever the reasons for his ill-advised actions, he recognises they are inexcusable and in no circumstances should he have loaded the revolver with a live round, let alone fiddle with the same.' Mr Tan added that his client had previously received awards for safety and professionalism and deeply regrets his actions. For a rash act endangering personal safety, an offender can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $2,500, or both.

Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Rare trial to begin in challenge to Trump-backed deportations of pro-Palestinian campus activists
FILE PHOTO: Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil speaks at a rally to welcome him home after being released from immigration custody, outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, U.S., June 22, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/File Photo BOSTON - Groups representing U.S. university professors seeking to protect international students and faculty who engage in pro-Palestinian advocacy from being deported are set to do what no other litigants challenging the Trump administration's hardline immigration agenda have done so far: Take it to trial. A two-week non-jury trial in the professors' case scheduled to kick off on Monday in Boston marks a rarity in the hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed nationally challenging Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to carry out mass deportations, slash spending and reshape the federal government. In many of those cases, judges have issued quick rulings early on in the proceedings without any witnesses being called to testify. But U.S. District Judge William Young in keeping with his long-standing practice instead ordered a trial in the professors' case, saying it was the "best way to get at truth." The lawsuit was filed in March after immigration authorities arrested recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, the first target of Trump's effort to deport non-citizen students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views. Since then, the administration has canceled the visas of hundreds of other students and scholars and ordered the arrest of some, including Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student who was taken into custody by masked and plainclothes agents after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school's response to Israel's war in Gaza. In their cases and others, judges have ordered the release of students detained by immigration authorities after they argued the administration retaliated against them for their pro-Palestinian advocacy in violation of the free speech guarantees of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Their arrests form the basis of the case before Young, which was filed by the American Association of University Professors and its chapters at Harvard, Rutgers and New York University, and the Middle East Studies Association. They allege the State Department and Department of Homeland Security adopted a policy of revoking visas for non-citizen students and faculty who engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy and arresting, detaining and deporting them as well. That policy, they say, was adopted after Trump signed executive orders in January directing the agencies to protect Americans from non-citizens who 'espouse hateful ideology' and to "vigorously" combat anti-Semitism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in late March said he had revoked more than 300 visas and warned that the Trump administration was looking every day for "these lunatics." The goal, the plaintiffs say, has been to suppress the types of protests that have roiled college campuses after Israel launched its war in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. Trump administration officials have frequently spoken about the efforts to target student protesters for visa revocations. Yet in court, the administration has defended itself by arguing the plaintiffs are challenging a deportation policy that does not exist and cannot point to any statute, rule, regulation or directive codifying it. "We don't deport people based on ideology," Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-American and anti-Semitic violence and terrorism - think again. You are not welcome here," McLaughlin said. The trial will determine whether the administration has violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment free speech rights. If Young concludes it has, he will determine a remedy in a second phase of the case. Young has described the lawsuit as "an important free speech case" and said that as alleged in the plaintiffs' complaint, "it is hard to imagine a policy more focused on intimidating its targets from practicing protected political speech." The case is the second Trump-era legal challenge so far that has gone to trial before Young, an 84-year-old appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan. While other Trump-era cases have been resolved through motions and arguments in court, the veteran jurist has long espoused the value of trials and in a recent order lamented the "virtual abandonment by the federal judiciary of any sense that its fact-finding processes are exceptional. Young last month after another non-jury trial delivered civil rights advocates and Democratic-led states a win by ordering the reinstatement of hundreds of National Institutes of Health research grants that were unlawfully terminated because of their perceived promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion. REUTERS