ICE arrests boxer days after Jake Paul fight and labels mugshot 'Sinaloa guy'

The Department of Homeland Security announced the arrest Thursday of Julio César Chávez Jr., a prominent Mexican boxer who was in the United States legally, but was arrested last year for unlawful possession of an assault weapon.

Chávez's latest arrest comes just days after he lost a high-stakes fight with social media influencer and professional boxer Jake Paul, with a DHS spokesperson alleging the boxer had close ties with the Sinaloa Cartel, designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.

“Under President Trump, no one is above the law – including world-famous athletes,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “Our message to any cartel affiliates in the U.S. is clear: we will find you and you will face consequences. The days of unchecked cartel violence are over.”

Chávez entered the United States legally in 2023 on a tourist visa, and later filed for permanent residency through marriage to a United States citizen. It was also in 2023 that a Mexican judge issued a warrant for Chávez’s arrest on charges of organized crime and weapons trafficking.

After returning from a trip to Mexico last December, McLaughlin said that Citizen and Immigration Services made a referral to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Chávez was a public safety threat, a referral, McLaughlin said, that was ignored under then-President Joe Biden’s administration.

McLaughlin went on to accuse Chavez of making fraudulent statements on his permanent residency application, and was later determined to be a target for deportation on June 27.

“This Sinaloa Cartel affiliate with an active arrest warrant for trafficking guns, ammunition, and explosives was arrested by ICE,” McLaughlin said. “It is shocking the previous administration flagged this criminal illegal alien as a public safety threat, but chose to not prioritize his removal and let him leave and come back into our country.”

In its news release, DHS also shared a mugshot of Chávez, with the file name of the image titled "Sinaloa guy," referencing his apparent cartel affiliation.

Just days ahead of his fight with Paul, Chavez expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s deportation policy in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, a policy that has seen a number of undocumented immigrants with no criminal history arrested for deportation.

“I don’t understand the situation – why so much violence?” Chávez said. “There are a lot of good people, and you’re giving the community an example of violence. After everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t want to be deported.”