The new boss of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel was born in California — raising thorny legal questions about how the Trump administration can go after a US citizen on foreign soil.
Juan Carlos Valencia, 41, who was born in Santa Ana, was identified Wednesday by US intelligence as the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, nearly five months after his stepfather, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, was killed during a Mexican military anti-drug operation.
Valencia was indicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges in Washington, DC in October 2020.
The US a year later offered a $5 million reward for his capture, which still stands.
A former US law enforcement officia, who was once assigned to Mexico told The Post it’s now up to Washington to decide if and how it will escalate its pursuit of the newly crowned — but American-born — cartel king.
“It should change the rules of engagement where we will not target. We’re not supposed to target, put a U.S. citizen in danger. He’s got dual citizenship. But his US citizenship should protect him from the typical protocol of launching an operation that would put his life in unnecessary jeopardy,” the source said.
“The US will never say that they’re the ones who coordinated an operation because it’s Mexican soil and its Mexican sovereignty.”
The former federal official said the Mexican government would use intelligence provided by the US to hunt down Valencia.
“But it would be their operation. That’s the way to get around the citizenship thing if somebody wanted to get around it,” the official said.
Valencia is the son of Armando Valencia, co-founder of the now-defunct Milenio Cartel, who served prison time in Mexico and was then extradited to the US, where he was released from prison in 2020 and has not been heard of or seen since.
His mother Rosalinda González had three children with El Mencho, including Rúben ‘El Menchito’ Oseguera, who was convicted in a DC federal court in September 2024 and sentenced to life in March 2025.
While it’s unknown when the family moved to back Mexico, Valencia rose through the cartel ranks and became one of the leaders of “Grupo Elite,” the criminal organization’s armed wing.
Valencia was the second in line to the cartel throne behind Audias ‘El Jardinero’ Flores, who was arrested by the Mexican navy on April 27.
Mexican security consultant David Saucedo told The Post that rumors have been raised as to whether Valencia may have set up Flores.
“After he was arrested, there were practically no acts of narco-terrorism — no roadblocks, no looting of stores, and no reaction whatsoever from the Jalisco Cartel,” Saucedo said. “There was no significant backlash. This suggests that Juan Carlos Valencia himself was in on it and was the one who revealed El Jardinero’s location, thereby eliminating internal rivals.”
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