Federal agents arrest Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. in Studio City
The 39-year-old former WBC middleweight world champion was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the San Fernando Valley community. DHS said the arrest just days after a bout in Anaheim stems from an active warrant in Mexico.
'The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained prominent Mexican boxer and criminal illegal alien Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and is processing him for expedited removal from the United States,' the agency said. 'Chavez is a Mexican citizen who has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.'
Chavez Jr. claimed the middleweight title in June 2011 and defended the title three times. He was defeated Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim by influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a 10-round cruiserweight fight.
Chávez Jr., the son of a former multi-division boxing champion, was born in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. He embarked on his professional boxing career as a teenager, making his debut in September 2002.
The detention comes after weeks of federal immigration enforcement operations in the Los Angeles area after President Trump made the issue a central part of his campaign.
The DHS said Chavez Jr. entered the country in August 2023 with a B2 tourist visa that was valid until 2024. He filed an application for Lawful Permanent Resident status last year based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, whom the department also accused of having connections to the Sinaloa Cartel 'through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.'
In December, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made a referral to ICE that Chavez Jr. is an 'egregious public safety threat,' DHS said. In January, Chavez was allowed to re-enter the country at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego.
He is accused of multiple 'fraudulent statements' on the application for lawful permanent residence, according to the DHS, which deemed him removable from the United States on June 27.
'This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate with an active arrest warrant for trafficking guns, ammunition, and explosives was arrested by ICE. It is shocking the previous administration flagged this criminal illegal alien as a public safety threat, but chose to not prioritize his removal and let him leave and come back into our country,' said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. 'Under President Trump, no one is above the law — including world-famous athletes. Our message to any cartel affiliates in the U.S. is clear: We will find you and you will face consequences. The days of unchecked cartel violence are over.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Stateless Palestinian woman detained after honeymoon released from Ice jail
Ward Sakeik, a stateless Palestinian woman who was detained in February on the way back from her honeymoon, was released from immigration detention after more than four months of confinement. 'I was overfilled with joy and a little shock,' she said at a press conference on Thursday. 'I mean, it was my first time seeing a tree in five months.' She ran to her husband, who had come to pick her up. 'I was like, oh my God, I can touch him without handcuffs and without a glass. It was just freedom.' Sakeik, 22, was detained in February on her way home from her honeymoon in the US Virgin Islands. Prior to her arrest, she had been complying with requirements to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since she was nine. After she was detained, the US government tried – twice – to deport her. The first time, she was told she was being taken to the Israel border – just as Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. The second time, Sakeik was told once again she would be deported – despite a judge's order barring her removal from her home state of Texas. Sakeik's family is from Gaza, but she was born in Saudi Arabia, which does not grant birthright citizenship to the children of foreigners. She and her family came to the US on a tourist visa when Sakeik was eight and applied for asylum – but were denied. The family was allowed to remain in Texas as long as they complied with requirements to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the years that passed, Sakeik graduated high school and college at the University of Texas, Arlington, started a wedding photography business, and married her husband, 28-year-old Taahir Shaikh. She had begun the process of obtaining a green card. She and her husband had bought a home – and had begun the process of renovating it. But 10 days after her wedding, on the way back from her honeymoon, Sakeik's life was upended. 'I married the love of my life. We spent 36 hours in the house that we were renovating for six months,' she said. 'After a few hours from returning from our honeymoon, I was put in a gray tracksuit and shackles.' Sakeik was joined by her husband, her attorneys and community leaders for the press conference, at a hotel in Irving, Texas, where she had previously photographed weddings. 'I never thought that I would be back in this hotel giving a speech about something extremely personal,' she said. Sakeik said she was transferred between three different detention centers, and at various points faced harrowing conditions. During her first transfer, she was on a bus for 16 hours. 'We were not given any water or food, and we could smell the driver eating Chick-fil-A,' she said. 'We would ask for water, bang on the door for food, and he would just turn up the radio and act like he wasn't listening to us.' Sakeik said she did not eat because she was fasting for Ramadan. Eventually, she said: 'I broke my fast next to a toilet in the intake room.' At the Prairieland detention center, Sakeik said there was so much dust that 'women are getting sick left and right'. 'The restrooms are also very, very, very much unhygienic. The beds have rust everywhere. They're not properly maintained. And cockroaches, grasshoppers, spiders, you name it, all over the facility. Girls would get bit.' Throughout, Sakeik was preoccupied with the worry that she would be deported. Had she been sent to Israel without documents proving her nationality, she worried she would be arrested. 'I was criminalized for being stateless, something that I absolutely have no control over,' she said. 'I didn't choose to be stateless … I had no choice.' The Department of Homeland Security has claimed Sakeik was flagged because she 'chose to fly over international waters and outside the US customs zone and was then flagged by CBP [Customs and Border Protection] trying to re-enter the continental US'. But the Virgin Islands are a US territory – and no passport is required to visit there. 'The facts are: she is in our country illegally. She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade,' said assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. The agency did not respond to questions about why it tried to deport her despite a judge's order barring her removal. Later, the agency amended its statement to add: 'Following her American husband and her filing the appropriate legal applications for her to remain in the country and become a legal permanent resident, she was released.' Sakeik said she felt 'blessed' that she had been released from detention – but also conflicted about all the women she had gotten to know during her confinement. They would often stay up late talking, share meals, and follow along with workout videos the detention facility had provided. 'A lot of these women don't have the money for lawyers or media outreach,' she said. 'So if you're watching this, I love you, and I will continue to fight for you every single day.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Trump deploys Marines to Florida as AOC goes into meltdown over new deportation powers: 'This is exploding'
President Donald Trump is sending 200 Marines to Florida to help ICE officials on the ground as leading Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns voters 'it is an explosion.' Trump's mobilization of the Marines came after a request from the Department of Homeland Security in May for military assistance. Last month, he deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles to contend with unruly anti-immigration protestors, sparking a furious response from California Governor Gavin Newsom. 'These Marines are the first wave of U.S. Northern Command's support of this ICE mission,' the Northern Command said in a statement. Other deployments are expected to be made to Louisiana and Texas, officials said. The service members who are called to duty in Florida will 'perform strictly non law enforcement duties within ICE facilities.' This will include administrative and logistical tasks, freeing up ICE agents to dedicate their working hours to conducting arrests and tracking down illegal criminals. 'They are specifically prohibited from direct contact with individuals in ICE custody or involvement in any aspect of the custody chain,' the statement added. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told CBS that the Marines 'will be trained and ready to assist with immigration processing at locations across the state of Florida.' She said this would be 'consistent with the whole-of-government approach to deliver on President Trump's mandate from the American people to remove public safety threats from American communities.' It comes after Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill finally passed through Congress, paving the way for him to sign it into law on Friday July 4 - Independence Day. The landmark tax cuts and spending legislation contains many of the Republican's campaign promises, totaling $3.3 trillion. The tax cuts alone will cost $4.5 trillion over the next ten years, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office. To offset the massive price tag Republicans included $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, mainly trimming Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled. Border security efforts will also be getting a major cash infusion estimated to be around $150 billion for increased immigration enforcement. It includes $46 billion for Customs and Border Patrol to build border wall and enhanced security measures and around $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The passage of the bill sparked a furious response from leading Democrat Ocasio-Cortez, who warned: 'I don't think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.' 'This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA and others combined,' she wrote on Bluesky. 'It is setting up to make what's happening now look like child's play.' In a chilling warning to the public, Ocasio-Cortez warned: 'People are disappearing.' The measure also stirred controversy within GOP ranks and even drew the ire of billionaire Elon Musk for its massive spending, which he likened to 'political suicide.' Trump has committed to embarking on the largest mass deportation scheme in American history as part of his mission to secure US borders. Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth greenlit up to 700 military personnel helping ICE agents across Florida, Louisiana and Texas. At least 8,500 other service members have been deployed to the US-Mexico border for border enforcement and to help build the wall. And in Florida, Trump has proudly touted his 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention facility, which will be manned by just under 70 Florida National Guard troops. Trump on Tuesday toured the new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades, suggesting it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to expand the infrastructure necessary for increasing deportations. Trump said he'd like to see similar facilities in 'really, many states' and raised the prospect of also deporting US citizens. 'Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet,' Trump said of Alligator Alcatraz. The president said the moniker is 'very appropriate because I looked outside and that's not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon.' 'The only way out, really, is deportation.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
ICE arrests Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The Department of Homeland Security says ICE arrested famed Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Los Angeles on Wednesday. DHS says he was wanted on a warrant in Mexico for his alleged involvement in organized crime. His arrest comes just days after his televised fights with YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul. NBC News' Morgan Chesky 3, 2025
