A 21-year-old Mexican national has been indicted for providing support for a terrorist cartel and committing heinous acts of brutality, according to the Justice Department.
Jose Flores-Flores is accused of kidnapping people for the notorious Gulf Cartel and dismembering at least two victims in Reynosa, Mexico.
‘Thanks to President Trump designating certain cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, federal law enforcement now has a whole new arsenal of legal tools to dismantle their activities.’
Flores-Flores was allegedly a member of the cartel for more than a year and provided services that included “personnel, regional protection and enforcement, law enforcement countersurveillance, and disposal of human remains.”
Officials encountered the man near Mission, a border town near the southern tip of Texas. They discovered that Flores-Flores had been previously removed from the U.S. earlier in the year.
The indictment claims he conducted counter-surveillance against the Mexican military and law enforcement for the cartel.
According to the allegations, he also received photographs of targets and kidnapped them in order to hand them off to higher-ranking cartel members.
Flores-Flores also allegedly dismembered two victims on the outskirts of Reynosa for the cartel.
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz pointed out that the indictment was possible because the Trump administration officially classified the cartel as a terrorist organization in Feb. 2025.
“Thanks to President Trump designating certain cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, federal law enforcement now has a whole new arsenal of legal tools to dismantle their activities,” he said in a statement in the press release.
“Flores-Flores in just one defendant today,” he added. “But under the leadership of President Trump and Attorney General [Todd] Blanche, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas is on the very forefront of Making America Safe Again through the destruction and dismantling of these terrorist cartels.”
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Mission is a large gateway for trade to Mexico through the Anzalduas International Bridge to Reynosa, Mexico, where the suspect is from.
Flores-Flores faces up to 20 years in prison and a possible maximum fine of $250,000 if convicted.
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Mexican cartels, Illegal aliens, Texas, Immigration, Politics, Donald trump