FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 43-25
December 22, 2025
National Counterterrorism Center Enables the Arrest of Dangerous Mexican Drug and Human Trafficker
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) provided actionable intelligence to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement partners that led to the arrest of Alfredo Ezequiel Galaviz Jr. in Chihuahua City, Mexico on December 5, 2025. Galaviz was wanted for the murder of a 16-year-old in Texas and is a member of a criminal family that traffics drugs and humans for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The operation to arrest Galaviz was the culmination of a two-month partnership between NCTC, the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of War’s Joint Task Force North, and the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Texas Rangers.
“Thanks to the support and leadership of President Trump and DNI Gabbard, we have intensified efforts to locate and arrest the narcoterrorists and human smugglers who were welcomed into our homeland during the previous administration. The days of open borders are over,” said NCTC Director Joe Kent. “Today, we are equipping federal, state, and local law enforcement officers with the intelligence and tools they need to hunt down and eliminate the violent thugs and criminals who terrorize our communities and threaten our way of life.”
Counterterrorism operations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are coordinated by the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), which represents a historic, nationwide initiative to consolidate U.S. law enforcement, military, and intelligence efforts into a targeted approach to dismantle criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
After President Trump’s designation of cartels and transnational gangs as FTOs, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard directed NCTC to provide intelligence and vetting resources to partners to target terrorists who traffic deadly narcotics into the country. NCTC is applying two decades of counterterrorism expertise to assist law enforcement partners in targeting terrorists, including FTO-designated cartels, such as CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel, who use violent tactics, terrorize localized communities, and control territory where they can engage in profitable illicit activity.
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