Mexico City — President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico stated on Friday that the country had not previously detained boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. based on a 2023 arrest warrant because he had mostly been residing in the United States.
Sheinbaum made these remarks a day after U.S. officials revealed that the boxer was arrested in Los Angeles for staying in the country longer than his visa permitted and providing false information on a green card application. According to U.S. officials, he was being prepared for quick deportation.
“We hope he will be deported to serve his sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum mentioned in her daily press briefing on Friday, alluding to the charges Chávez faces involving arms and drug trafficking.
The 39-year-old boxer, according to his attorney Michael Goldstein, was picked up Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in Studio City.
The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim.
Chávez split his time between both countries. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chávez for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the U.S. with in August 2023 and expired in February 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
The agency also said Chávez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muñoz. She is the mother of a granddaughter of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
U.S. officials said that he’s believed to have ties to the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, which is blamed for a significant portion of Mexico’s drug violence.
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