Osiel Cárdenas Remains Under US Immigration Custody With A Pending Deportation Process

Recently, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel left prison after serving his sentence

The former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, is in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), with a pending deportation process.

A spokesman for the agency told MILENIO that the founder of Los Zetas remains as he was since his release from the High Security Penitentiary of Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 30.

“Law enforcement officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal operations took custody of Cardenas at the Terre Haute penitentiary, and he’s still under ICE custody pending a final disposition determination,” an agency spokesperson told MILENIO last Friday.

Cardenas Guillen served 21 years in prison after being sentenced to 25 years for drug-related crimes. In 2009, he reached a plea agreement and was sentenced in 2010, which took into account the time he spent in prison in Mexico after his arrest in 2009.

What is Osiel Cardenas accused of?

The drug trafficker pleaded guilty in 2009 to five charges against him for cocaine and marijuana trafficking, money laundering and threats against U.S. security agents.

A federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, accepted the recommendation of the US Attorney’s Office to impose a sentence of 25 years in prison thanks to the fact that he reached a plea agreement.

The time he spent in detention in Mexico was taken into account, after his arrest in 2003 and his subsequent extradition to the United States, in addition to the fact that due to good behavior his prison time was reduced to the last day of August 2024.

He is accused in Mexico of several charges of organized crime and drug trafficking, but the US government still has to determine whether to deport the reputed criminal, or allow him to stay in the US under supervised release. 

Source: Milenio