Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say

LOS ANGELES AP Famed Mexican boxer Julio C sar Ch vez Jr has been arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application and will be deported to Mexico where he faces organized crime charges U S federal bureaucrats stated Thursday The arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim California The Department of Homeland Shield revealed officers determined Ch vez should be arrested on June a day before the fight It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event The -year-old boxer according to his attorney Michael Goldstein was picked up Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of a home where he resides in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City near Hollywood The current assertions are outrageous and entirely another headline to terrorize the region Goldstein explained A great number of people across Southern California are on edge as immigration arrests have ramped up prompting protests and the federal deployment of National Guard troops and U S Marines to downtown Los Angeles Goldstein did not know where Ch vez was being detained as of Thursday morning but reported he and his client were due in court Monday in connection with gun possession charges from last year Before his bout with Paul on Saturday Ch vez had fought just once since having fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father Julio C sar Ch vez one of the most of beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who won championships in several weight classes The son who has battled drug addiction for much of his career has been arrested repeatedly In he was convicted of drunk driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to days in jail and in January he was arrested on gun charges Police disclosed he possessed two AR-style ghost rifles He was later freed on a bond and on condition he went to a residential drug restoration facility The development is still pending with Ch vez reporting his progress regularly He split his time between both countries Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Ch vez for overstaying a tourist visa that he entered the U S with in August and expired in February the Department of Homeland Precaution mentioned The agency also explained Ch vez submitted multiple fraudulent statements when he applied for permanent residency on April based on his marriage to a U S citizen Frida Mu oz She is the mother of a granddaughter of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin El Chapo Guzman U S functionaries explained he is thought to be an affiliate of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel that is blamed for a major portion of Mexico s drug violence U S Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged Immigration and Customs Enforcement about Ch vez on Dec saying he is an egregious masses safety threat and yet he was allowed back into the country without a visa on Jan under the Biden administration the agency announced Mexico s Attorney General s Office explained that an arrest warrant against Julio C was issued in Mexico in March in an study of organized crime and arms trafficking assertions and that Mexico on Thursday initiated extradition proceedings A federal agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter verified to The Associated Press that Julio C is Ch vez The agent declined to explain why Ch vez was not arrested earlier in Mexico despite going back and forth between the two countries multiple times Despite failing drug tests serving suspensions and egregiously missing weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport Ch vez still rose to its heights He won the WBC middleweight title in and defending it three times Ch vez shared the ring with generational greats Canelo lvarez and Sergio Martinez losing to both Ch vez claimed to be clean for the Paul fight He looked in his best shape in years while preparing for the match Ch vez noted in an interview with the Los Angeles Times ahead of his fight with Paul that he and his trainers were shaken by the immigration arrests There are a lot of good people and you re giving the group an example of violence Ch vez declared After everything that s happened I wouldn t want to be deported