It is almost three months since Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, asked the administration headed by Donald Trump to extradite two real heavyweights in illegal fuel trafficking, known as “huachicol”.
Since then, There has been no progress so that James Jensen and his son Maxwell, Americans from Utah detained in their country, in April 2025on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and financing a terrorist organization, have been sent to Mexico to stand trial.
The Mexican authorities estimate that the people in question, along with other businessmen, Over three years they allegedly smuggled nearly 2,900 shipments of crude oil stolen from the parastatal Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) using an unusual scheme, since they falsely declared them as additives or industrial oils, this with the aim of avoiding the corresponding taxes at border customs and which in Mexico is prepared under the name of “fiscal huachicol.”
The US government accuses the Jensens of alleged illegal fuel trafficking, falsification of documents and money laundering, not to mention that they were allegedly allies of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Investigations carried out by the authorities in Mexico show that James and Maxwell Jensen were so intelligent that they brought oil into the United States from Mexico at a very poor price, but later, when refining it in South Texas, they gave it an enormous value valued in dollars.
However, the ingenious scheme represents a violation of the US Tariff Law.
Their networks of complicity also included senior Navy commanders in ports and border customs, police and even the military.
Many of these individuals are already in prison, while some are still on the run in countries where Mexico does not have treaties to extradite them.
Despite all the evidence against the Jensens, The US government refuses to send them to Mexico and the well-known reason is that most of the money they obtained smuggling oil is deposited in their banks. where they do not want a single dollar to come from.
In the words of Sheinbaum, while Mexico has extradited more than 90 people to the United States, it has not received any response from its defeated party in the north regarding the extradition of some “Huachicol Kings” capable of embezzling the Aztec energy sector in just three years.
The laughable thing is that last week, Jay Clayton, federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, and Terrance C. Cole, administrator of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), formally accused Rubén Rocha Moya, former governor of Sinaloa, and 10 other high-level officials in his cabinet of having alleged links to drug trafficking.
So the demand was to extradite everyone as soon as possible, although at that time no evidence would be presented to support the accusations.
I categorically and absolutely reject the accusations made against me by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of New York, since they lack any truth or foundation. And this will be demonstrated, with all forcefulness, at the appropriate time.
This attack is not only…
— Rubén Rocha Moya (@rochamoya_) April 29, 2026
Both the cases of James and Maxwell Jensen, as well as that of Rocha Moya and his team have strained the relationship between Donald Trump and Claudia Sheinbaum, placing the Mexican president at a significant disadvantagebecause in the event that Washington exerts pressure on him, it will most likely end up sending the characters demanded by the US authorities, even if this means prolonging their wait for a couple of alleged criminals who may never set foot inside a prison in Mexico.
Keep reading:
• The US charges a Utah businessman and his son for ties to the CJNG
• Trump warns that if Mexico doesn’t do its job against drugs, Washington will take care of it
• Who is Rubén Rocha, the governor of Sinaloa and historical ally of AMLO whom the US accuses of collaborating with “Los Chapitos”
