MEXICO CITY (AP) — Boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. has been deported to Mexico, where he's wanted for alleged cartel ties, following his arrest in the U.S. for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application.
Chávez was handed over by authorities and admitted to a prison outside of the city of Hermosillo, in the northern state of Sonora, an official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed the news at her daily news conference.
“I understand he was deported. I don’t know if it was yesterday or this morning, but we were informed that he was arriving in Mexico," Sheinbaum said.
Chávez, 39, had a warrant for his arrest in Mexico for alleged arms and drug trafficking and ties to the Sinaloa cartel. Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico’s attorney general, said the investigation into Chávez started in 2019.
The boxer, who is the son of Mexican boxing great Julio César Chávez, was arrested July 3, days after his high-profile fight with Jake Paul in California.
Sheinbaum said after the arrest that she hoped the boxer would be deported to face his charges.
Chávez's father was a massive celebrity in the 1980s and '90s who mixed social circles with drug dealers and claimed to have been friends with drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes.
The iconic fighter defended his son following his arrest but has not spoken publicly since the deportation.
The younger Chávez has battled drug addiction for much of his boxing career, failing drug tests, serving suspensions and egregiously missing weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport.
Chavez won the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defended it three times. He shared the ring with generational greats Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez, losing to both.
In 2012, he was convicted of drunken driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in jail. In January 2024, he was arrested on gun charges. Police said he possessed two AR-style ghost rifles. He was later freed on a $50,000 bond and on the condition that he went to a residential drug treatment facility. The case is still pending, with Chávez reporting his progress regularly.
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing
FILE - Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. arrives for his cruiserweight boxing match against Jake Paul, in Anaheim, Calif., June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation on Saturday sought to reassure Denmark and Greenland of their support following President Donald Trump's threat to punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. taking over the strategic Arctic island.
Delegation leader Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the current rhetoric around Greenland is causing concern across the Danish kingdom. He said he wants to de-escalate the situation.
“I hope that the people of the Kingdom of Denmark do not abandon their faith in the American people,” Coons said in Copenhagen, adding that the U.S. has respect for Denmark and NATO “for all we’ve done together.”
Meanwhile, Danish Major Gen. Søren Andersen, leader of the Joint Arctic Command, told The Associated Press that Denmark does not expect the U.S. military to attack Greenland, or any other NATO ally, and that European troops were recently deployed to Nuuk for Arctic defense training.
He said the goal isn’t to send a message to the Trump administration, even through the White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force.
“I will not go into the political part, but I will say that I would never expect a NATO country to attack another NATO country,” he told the AP on Saturday aboard a Danish military vessel docked in Nuuk. “For us, for me, it’s not about signaling. It is actually about training military units, working together with allies.”
The Danish military organized a planning meeting Friday in Greenland with NATO allies, including the U.S., to discuss Arctic security on the alliance’s northern flank in the face of a potential Russian threat. The Americans were also invited to participate in Operation Arctic Endurance in Greenland in the coming days, Andersen said.
In his 2 1/2 years as a commander in Greenland, Andersen said he has not seen any Chinese or Russian combat vessels or warships despite Trump's claims that they were off the island's coast.
But in the unlikely event of American troops using force on Danish soil, Andersen confirmed a Cold War-era law governing Danish rules of engagement.
“But you are right that it is Danish law that a Danish soldier, if attacked, has the obligation to fight back,” he said.
Thousands of people marched through Copenhagen, many of them carrying Greenland’s flag, on Saturday afternoon in support of the self-governing island. Others held signs with slogans like “Make America Smart Again” and “Hands Off.”
“This is important for the whole world,” Danish protester Elise Riechie told The Associated Press as she held Danish and Greenlandic flags. “There are many small countries. None of them are for sale.”
Other rallies were planned in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, and elsewhere in the Danish kingdom.
Coons’ comments contrasted with that emanating from the White House. Trump has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals. The White House hasn’t ruled out taking the territory by force.
“There are no current security threats to Greenland,” Coons said.
Trump for months has insisted that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in U.S. hands would be “unacceptable.”
During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted Friday how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
“I may do that for Greenland, too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.
He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That encounter didn’t resolve the deep differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group — on whose purpose Denmark and the White House then offered sharply diverging public views.
European leaders have insisted it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.
“There is almost no better ally to the United States than Denmark,” Coons said. “If we do things that cause Danes to question whether we can be counted on as a NATO ally, why would any other country seek to be our ally or believe in our representations?”
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Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.
A patch of the Joint Arctic Command is seen on o jacket of Major General Søren Andersen standing onboard a military vessel HDMS Knud Rasmussen of the Royal Danish Navy docked in Nuuk, Greenland, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People gather for a pro- Greenlanders demonstration, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
People gather for a pro- Greenlanders demonstration, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
People march during a pro- Greenlanders demonstration, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Icicles hang from the roof of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A Danish serviceman walks in front of Joint Arctic Command center in Nuuk, Greenland, on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Senator Chris Coons from the Democratic Party speaks during a press conference with the American delegation, consisting of senators and members of the House of Representatives, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
