by The Office of the Director of National Security
September 24, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) provided intelligence that supported U.S.-Mexican interagency operations and the arrest of a Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG)-affiliated baby trafficking ringleader, Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, also known as “La Diabla,” in Juarez, Mexico, on Sept. 2, 2025.
The joint operation, executed by Mexican law enforcement officers, disrupted an infant trafficking network led by “La Diabla,” that lured pregnant women to remote locations, performed illegal cesarean procedures, harvested the organs from the mothers’ bodies, and sold the newborns to couples in the U.S. for up to 250,000 pesos.
“This is one example of what terrorist cartels will do to diversify their revenue streams and finance operations,” said Joe Kent, NCTC Director. “NCTC delivered critical intelligence on ‘La Diabla’s’ location and developed comprehensive analysis that enabled U.S. and Mexican law enforcement partners to take action. I am proud of our team’s ability to work with our forward deployed U.S. partners and Mexican law enforcement to stop these horrific acts. NCTC remains committed to disrupting all aspects of terrorist cartels and their operations. And in this case, the lives of innocent women and children depended on it.”
The arrest was supported by U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) El Paso, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) El Paso, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and executed by Mexican law enforcement partners and Fiscalia Especializada en la Mujer (the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Women).
Counterterrorism operations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border are coordinated by the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), which was established by the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security based on direction in Executive Order 14159 signed by President Trump.
After President Trump’s designation of cartels and transnational gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), DNI Gabbard directed NCTC to focus intelligence and vetting resources against terrorists who traffic deadly narcotics into the country. As a result of these efforts, NCTC is applying two decades of counterterrorism expertise to assist law enforcement partners in targeting FTO-designated cartels, like CJNG, who use violent tactics, terrorize localized communities, and gain control over territory that enables them to engage in profitable illicit activity.
###
Continue Reading