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Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by ICE on Thursday for deportation. The arrest came just days after Chávez’s loss to YouTuber Jake Paul in Anaheim, California, on the last weekend of June.
Chávez was arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application. He was being processed for expedited removal, according to U.S. authorities.
News of the arrest set the fighting community into a frenzy, with Chávez Jr. suddenly emerging as a prominent figure in the nation’s ongoing deportation saga.
Chávez Jr. has an extensive criminal history and suspected alleged ties to a drug cartel, per DHS
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Chávez Jr. has been charged with several crimes while in the U.S.
On Jan. 22, 2012, California Highwaay Patrol arrested Chávez and charged him with DUI alcohol/drugs and driving without a license. On June 23, 2012, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, convicted Chávez of the offense of driving under the influence of alcohol and sentenced him to 13 days in jail and 36 months’ probation.
On Jan. 14, 2023, 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, in the modality of 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.
Julio Cesar Chávez Jr. fights against Jake Paul at Honda Center. (Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images)
On Jan. 7, 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Chavez and charged him with Illegal Possession of an assault weapon and manufacture or import short-barreled rifle. The court convicted Chavez of these charges.’
DHS also suspects Chavez is allegedly believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Chavez’s application was based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, according to DHS.
Meanwhile, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that Mexico hadn’t previously arrested boxer Chávez Jr. on a 2023 arrest order, because he had been mostly in the U.S. at that time.
“The hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing Friday, referring to charges that Chávez faces for arms and drug trafficking.
The Biden administration let Chávez Jr. into the country just before the former president left office, per DHS
The boxer was nearly cast out of the country months ago.
According to DHS, in December 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had made a referral to ICE that Chávez was an “egregious public safety threat,” but Chavez was allowed to reenter the country on Jan. 4, 2025 after records indicated the Biden Administration had not made him an immigration enforcement priority.
After the Biden administration allowed Chavez to reenter the country and paroled him into the country at the San Ysidro port of entry, per DHS.
Chávez Jr. is the son of a famed boxer, who shares issues with substance abuse
Chávez Jr.’s father, Julio César Chávez Sr., is a multiple-time world champion in three different weight divisions. Chávez Sr. reportedly grew up in an abandoned railroad car with his five sisters and four brothers, according to