Ex-boxing world champion deported to Mexico over alleged cartel links
Chavez Jr, 39, has been imprisoned in Hermosillo in the northern state of Sonora, Mexico, and is facing charges of arms and drugs trafficking.
Prosecutors believe Chavez Jr acted as a henchman for the Sinaloa cartel – one of the world's most powerful crime syndicates that was designated a foreign terrorist organisation earlier this year.
An arrest warrant was issued in 2023 following a four-year-long investigation.
Chavez Jr was arrested last month by Immigration Customs Enforcement officers in Studio City, California, 10 miles north of Los Angeles, days after being beaten by Jake Paul, a social media influencer turned professional boxer, in an exhibition bout.
Ronald Johnson, the US ambassador to Mexico and former CIA officer, shared a photograph on social media of Chavez Jr being led away by armed officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Mr Johnson said Chavez Jr, a Mexican national, would 'face charges under his country's justice system'.
'This action reflects the strong cooperation between our governments, showing that collaboration delivers results and advances the security of both nations,' he wrote in an accompanying statement to the photo.
Mexico's national arrest registry showed that the boxer was arrested at a checkpoint in the Mexican border city of Nogales at 11.53am local time and transferred to a federal institution in Sonora's capital of Hermosillo.
Chavez Jr was wearing a black hoodie and red trainers, it said.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, confirmed news of his detainment at a press conference on Tuesday, commenting: 'I understand he was deported. I don't know if it was yesterday or this morning, but we were informed that he was arriving in Mexico.'
The DHS has said that the warrant for Chavez Jr details his alleged involvement in 'organised crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition and explosives'.
He was also said to have made 'multiple fraudulent statements' on an application filed last year for lawful permanent resident status that was based on his marriage to a US citizen alleged to have family connections with the Sinaloa cartel.
In January last year, Chavez Jr was arrested in the Los Angeles area and charged with illegal possession of an assault rifle.
Chavez Jr has denied all the allegations.
He held the WBC middleweight title from 2011 to 2012 and is the son of Julio Cesar Chavez, the Hall of Fame fighter.
His career has been overshadowed by controversies, including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009.
In 2012, he was convicted in a Los Angeles court of driving under the influence and sentenced to 13 days in jail.
Later that year, Chavez Jr tested positive for marijuana after fighting Sergio Martínez, the Argentinian two-weight division world champion, and received a nine-month suspension. He was also fined about £666,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
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