US immigration agents arrest Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. for deportation

Brittny Mejia and Eduard Cauich, Los Angeles Times on Jul 3, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — United States immigration agents have detained prominent Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. and are working to deport him, with officials saying he has “an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Chávez in Studio City on Wednesday and are processing him for expedited removal from the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

A Homeland Security news release said Chávez had been flagged as a public safety threat, but “the Biden administration indicated in internal records he was not an immigration enforcement priority.”

Chávez’s manager, Sean Gibbons, told the Los Angeles Times they are currently “working on a few issues” following the boxer’s arrest but had no further comment.

The son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, Chávez Jr. faced off last month against influencer-turned-fighter Jake Paul and lost.

U.S. officials announced the arrest Thursday, referring to the younger Chávez as an “affiliate of the Sinaloa cartel.” The Trump administration has designated the Mexican drug trafficking group as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

“Under President Trump, no one is above the law — including world-famous athletes,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

According to the news release, Chávez entered the country legally in August 2023, with a B2 tourist visa that was valid until February 2024. He had filed an application for lawful permanent resident status last year in April, officials said, based on his marriage to Frida Chávez, a U.S. citizen, who Homeland Security said “is connected to the Sinaloa cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.”

Last year, on Dec. 17, according to the Homeland Security news release, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made a referral to ICE that Chávez was “an egregious public safety threat.”

“However, an entry in a DHS law enforcement system under the Biden administration indicated Chávez was not an immigration enforcement priority,” the release stated.

According to the release, Chávez was allowed to reenter the country on Jan. 4 at the San Ysidro port of entry.

“Following multiple fraudulent statements on his application to become a Lawful Permanent Resident, he was determined to be in the country illegally and removable on June 27,” the Homeland Security release stated.

According to Homeland Security, Chávez was convicted in 2012 of driving under the influence of alcohol and was sentenced to 13 days in jail and 36 months of probation.

In 2023, according to Homeland Security, a district judge issued an arrest warrant for Chávez, “for the offense of organized crime for the purpose of committing crimes of weapons trafficking and manufacturing crimes.”

The release said the warrant was for “those who participate in clandestinely bringing weapons, ammunition, cartridges, explosives into the country; and those who manufacture weapons, ammunition, cartridges, and explosives without the corresponding permit.”

Last January, officials said, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Chávez and charged him with illegal possession of any assault weapon and manufacture or import short barreled rifle. He was later convicted of the charges.