Texas case charges alleged Gulf Cartel member with terrorism
Revista Espejo reported that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas charged José Flores-Flores with terrorism, material support for a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy. Border Patrol agents arrested him near Mission, Texas, on July 10, 2026, and he pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors cite cellphone videos, photographs and metadata tied to Reynosa, while the report also describes Flores-Flores’s alleged statements about the Gulf Cartel.
U.S. prosecutors charge alleged Gulf Cartel member with terrorism
According to Revista Espejo, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas charged José Flores-Flores with terrorism in what the outlet described as the first such case involving an alleged member of the Gulf Cartel. Prosecutors also accuse him of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiring to provide that support. Border Patrol agents arrested Flores-Flores on July 10, 2026, near Mission, Texas, and he pleaded not guilty.
Revista Espejo reported that prosecutors said Flores-Flores was carrying weapons and allowed agents to examine his cellphone. They said the phone contained a video depicting the dismemberment of a man, along with photographs of AR-15-style rifles, communications radios and bodies near a large burning container. Prosecutors linked the material to an alleged illegal cremation site, and metadata reportedly placed the files’ creation on June 26, 2026, at a property in Reynosa, Tamaulipas.
The report said Flores-Flores, 21, told investigators he had entered the United States illegally and identified himself as an active Gulf Cartel member. In statements attributed to him, he said the people shown in the images had extorted, sold methamphetamine or carried out kidnappings in territory controlled by the cartel. He also allegedly told investigators that the group supplied him with a rifle, body armor and a vehicle, but the case remains contested and the charges are not convictions.
The U.S. indictment is identified in the report as case M-26-2625-S2. Revista Espejo also cited the U.S. designation of the Gulf Cartel, the Northeast Cartel and Jalisco New Generation as terrorist organizations under Executive Order 14157, signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2025, and said the groups have a presence in Tamaulipas according to Mexican government reports.