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<\/p>\nTwo days after Mexican forces killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel last month, Gladdys Uribe was in her California home, anxiously tracking her parents\u2019 movements in Mexico.<\/p>\n
The capture and death of the world\u2019s most wanted drug trafficker \u2014 Nemesio Rub\u00e9n \u201cEl Mencho\u201d Oseguera Cervantes \u2014 triggered a violent retaliation that spread from Jalisco to other states, leaving highways blocked, businesses and vehicles burned, and 25 members of the Mexican national guard dead.<\/p>\n
The eruption of violence lasted little more than a day, but it rattled much of Los Angeles, where ties run deep to Jalisco, and many Jalisciences and their descendants are bracing for more chaos in their homeland as rivals in the fractured cartel vie for power. <\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of Angelenos worry about family in Jalisco, while those in the U.S. without documentation fear getting swept up in Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown and sent back to a place where deportees are often targets of the cartels.<\/p>\n
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Mexican national guard troops remove pedestrians by the general prosecutor\u2019s headquarters in Mexico City on Feb. 22 after the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as \u201cEl Mencho.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Ginette Riquelme \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Uribe frantically monitored the uprising on Feb. 22 through texts, video calls and social media.<\/p>\n
Her parents, aunt and uncle, who were in Jalisco, have since returned to the U.S., but she and other families dread a bloody power struggle in the cartel<\/a> like the one that claimed many civilian lives when the Sinaloa cartel fractured in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIn the short term, I do think that things will grow more violent,\u201d Uribe said. \u201cIn the past, when one cartel seemed weak, other cartels tried to encroach upon their territory.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Martinez, who has family in Jalisco, said some of his aunts, uncles and cousins in Zapopan, next to Guadalajara, are afraid to go outside while the cartel is in a state of crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like that saying \u2014 If you cut the head of a serpent, then more heads will grow,\u201d he said. \u201cThe main hope is that there\u2019s a smooth transition of power.\u201d<\/p>\n Gladdys Uribe shows phone calls between her and her mother on Feb. 22, the day Mexican armed forces killed \u201cEl Mencho.\u201d<\/p>\n (Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The violence has put additional strain on mixed-status families in the U.S. with ties to Mexico, many of whom face the threat of deportation under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \u201cI have some family that wants to come over, but with the whole ICE situation over here, it complicates things,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cAnd this is a family that\u2019s looking to do it the legal way.\u201d<\/p>\n The administration has also put a restriction on the number of foreign nationals who can enter the country by revoking<\/a> or denying tourist visas,<\/a> as well as increasing immigration fees.<\/p>\n Ingrid Eagly, a law professor at UCLA, said the combination of cartel violence and stricter immigration policies creates uncertainty for immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people who are being deported currently have lived in the United States for 10 to 20 years,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so to return to a place they haven\u2019t been to since they were a child, a place that has all of this violence, I think, would just cause further instability.\u201d<\/p>\n She said general threats of cartel violence would be insufficient for people to file for asylum.<\/p>\n \u201cThat can complicate the ability for people to leave, even if it\u2019s just for a short period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Migration from Jalisco to California and other states dates to the late 1800s with the construction and expansion of the railroad systems in Mexico and the U.S.<\/p>\n A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set ablaze in Cointzio, Mexico, after the death of \u201cEl Mencho\u201d in February.<\/p>\n (Armando Solis \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n The number of people migrating north magnified as many fled violence from the Mexican Revolution<\/a> and Cristero War,<\/a> and continued with the Bracero Program<\/a>, according to James Schmal of Indigenous Mexico,<\/a> an online resource to Mexico\u2019s Indigenous people, history and genealogy.<\/p>\n Jalisco, a western state in Mexico, is the birthplace of many Los Angeles staples: mariachi music, tequila, charreadas (rodeos), and Jalisco-style cuisine that includes birria <\/a>(spiced goat or beef stew) and torta ahogada<\/a> (a salsa-drenched Mexican sandwich).<\/p>\n Los Angeles serves as an extension of home for Jalisciences, who have had considerable influence on the makeup of the city\u2019s culinary and cultural landscape. Countless restaurants carry the name of the state, places such as Birrieria Jalisco<\/a> and Mariscos Jalisco.<\/a> Mariachis are a staple of the city, playing at quincea\u00f1eras, weddings, birthday parties, gathering at places such as Olvera Street in downtown and Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. <\/p>\n Although the numbers of people with roots in Jalisco is not known, the state is often cited as one of the top feeding Mexican immigration to California, where up to 13 million people identify as being of Mexican descent, according to estimates of the 2024 American Community Survey.<\/a> <\/p>\n The connection goes both ways. Thousands of American expats live in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and communities along the shore of Lake Chapala \u2014 and many more American tourists visit there. <\/p>\n This summer Guadalajara is set to host some of the World Cup games held in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. The stadium, however, is in Zapopan.<\/p>\n Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum has been trying to dispel security concerns over the tournament. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no risk,\u201d Sheinbaum said during a Feb. 24 news conference. \u201cOur objective is security and peace, and that is what we\u2019re working towards.\u201d<\/p>\n In the last year and a half, she has reported significant progress curtailing the violence in Mexico, reporting a decrease in homicide rates by 42%<\/a> from September 2024 to January 2026. <\/p>\n But many wonder how long the relative peace can hold.<\/p>\n Martinez pointed out the surge in violence after Mexican and U.S. authorities captured Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada<\/a> and Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman,<\/a> former leaders of the Sinaloa cartel. He said the violence often stops when a new leader emerges.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a repeated thing with cartels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For years, Jalisco experienced low levels of violence compared with other Mexican states. But that began to change with the formation of the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartel sometime around 2009.<\/p>\n The cartel was one of two factions that splintered from the Milenio cartel, which had its roots in Michoacan and Jalisco in the late 1970s. A turf war ensued and CJNG came out the victor, taking control of the smuggling networks in the region.<\/p>\n The CJNG became known for its ruthlessness and violent military-style tactics, carrying out deadly attacks against security forces<\/a> including shooting down an army helicopter using rocket-propelled grenades in 2015. Homicides and kidnappings spiked in Jalisco. A key supplier of fentanyl, the cartel has also profited in human trafficking, extortion and fuel thefts. The U.S. has designated it as a foreign terrorist organization. <\/p>\n The uprising over Oseguera\u2019s death underscored the cartel\u2019s reach across Mexico.<\/p>\n When the violence broke out last month, Martinez tried to locate his grandfather, who was eventually found safe in Michoacan. <\/p>\n Elizabeth Uribe, who is friends with Gladdys, checked in on her parents throughout the day as they sheltered inside a hotel in Rinc\u00f3n de Guayabitos, a beach town not far from Puerto Vallarta. <\/p>\n She stuck to traditional news outlets to avoid misinformation being shared by family and on social media.<\/p>\n She said her niece\u2019s godmother was forced out of a bus by cartel gunmen before it was lit on fire. Although her parents returned to the U.S. safely, she\u2019s still concerned about her father\u2019s family in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t have an option, they just kind of have to go back to work and hope things are gonna be OK,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gladdys Uribe, center, with her daughters Ximena Bautista, 7, left, and Shaila Bautista, 14, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n (Kayla Bartkowski \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774525329_631_.jpeg\")
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