Steve Fisher

The deaths of four people, including two CIA agents, in a car crash on Sunday following a law enforcement raid on a drug lab in a remote area of Chihuahua is raising questions about the extent of U.S. involvement in Mexico's effort to combat drug cartels and organized crime.

Deportations of Mexicans dropped to 144,000 in 2025, roughly half the annual figure under President Biden, according to data analyzed by Quinto Elemento Lab, an investigative news organization. President Trump's beefed-up border security may have deterred many from Mexico from attempting to enter the U.S. illegally.

Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes 59, who was fatally wounded when special forces stormed a hideout in Jalisco state, took extraordinary precautions to protect his location and operation. The founder of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel had fleets of reinforced, tank-style vehicles, bomb-delivering drones and shoulder-fired rocket launchers that could down helicopters.

A gold mine in Mexico's Sonoran desert was taken over by the sons of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.For one man, reclaiming the mine was more than a business proposition. It was a reckoning with his past and a chance to pay back the orphanage that raised him.

The Trump administration is relying on drones and other advanced technology to secure the border. The drones fly along the border searching for smugglers crossing people or contraband.