Drug Lord's Daughter Freed After Guilty Plea; Deported Back to Mexico
A pregnant Mexican woman who claimed to be the daughter of an infamous drug lord returned to her home country on Tuesday after pleading guilty in the U.S. to immigration charges.
Alejandrina Gisselle Guzman Salazar pleaded guilty on Monday to fraud and misuse of visas at a San Diego federal courthouse. Guzman Salazar's release was ordered by U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo immediately after the guilty plea because of an agreement made with prosecutors.
Guzman Salazar's attorney, Guadalupe Valencia, commented on her client's status on Wednesday, as reported by The Associated Press: "She's happy to be back in Mexico and out of custody to have her baby. She's a doctor and will go back to her life before she was arrested."
Valencia also stated that Guzman Slazar is currently eight months pregnant.
The 31-year-old was caught trying to enter the U.S. on Oct. 12 at the port of San Ysidro in San Diego, Calif, by using someone else's visa. She identified herself to U.S. border inspectors as the daughter of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the top drug lords in Mexico and head of the Sinaloa cartel. Guzman Salazar told border officials that she planned on giving birth to her child in Los Angeles and also identified her mother as Maria Alejandrina Hernandez Salazar, who has previously been recognized by the U.S. Treasury Department as Guzman's wife when financial sanctions were imposed on her in June, according to Reuters.
Federal prosecutors made an agreement with Guzman Salazar that she would return to Mexico by the order of immigration authorities and that the charges of identity theft and making a false statement would be dropped.
The Sinaloa cartel, which is named after the Pacific coast state of the same name, controls drug trafficking along large parts of the U.S. border with Mexico.
