Mexico on Tuesday moved 26 prisoners with alleged ties to major drug cartels into U.S. custody, the Attorney General’s Office and the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection said. The operation was carried out under Mexico’s National Security Law and involved flights from several penitentiaries to U.S. soil. Among those turned over are Abigael González Valencia, reputed financial chief of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s “Los Cuinis” faction; Servando Gómez Martínez, known as “La Tuta” of the former Knights Templar; and Roberto Salazar, wanted for the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy. Others belong to cells of the Sinaloa, Tijuana and Northeast cartels. All face U.S. indictments for drug trafficking, kidnapping, homicide, arms offences or migrant smuggling. The U.S. Department of Justice agreed not to seek the death penalty, meaning the defendants face maximum sentences of life imprisonment. U.S. officials hailed the transfer as evidence of “continued and courageous cooperation,” while Mexican security chief Omar García Harfuch said the men posed a persistent threat to public safety. It is the second mass transfer this year, following the hand-over of 29 suspects in February, and comes as President Claudia Sheinbaum negotiates a broader security accord with the Trump administration, which has linked tougher cartel enforcement to threatened trade tariffs.