OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:54 PM – Thursday, October 23, 2025
U.S. officials provided a detailed update during a briefing at the White House with President Donald Trump on Thursday, crediting the National Intelligence Fusion Cell for the intelligence that led to La Diabla’s September arrest.
Last month, a joint effort between the U.S. and Mexico resulted in the dismantling of a baby trafficking and organ-harvesting ring linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard provided the update. She characterized the now-defunct operation as “insidious,” highlighting it as a prime example of how targeted counterterrorism measures yield tangible results.
Earlier this year, in February, the CJNG was officially designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
No new arrests were announced, but she stressed expanded efforts to identify over 20,000 cartel affiliates in U.S. databases — in addition to the American and Mexican buyers who were sold these infants.
Estimates suggest over 200 infants may have been sold, and efforts are underway to trace their locations in the U.S., potentially through “DNA databases and adoption records,” officials say.
The heinous trafficking operation was led by Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, known as “La Diabla,” who was arrested last month in Ciudad Juárez — following a joint investigation involving the National Counterterrorism Center, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and Mexican law enforcement.
According to Gabbard, the ring lured vulnerable pregnant women — often through false job offers or promises of financial assistance — to remote areas controlled by the CJNG. There, illegal Caesarean procedures (C-sections) were performed to extract their babies, which were then sold to buyers for up to around $14,000 U.S. dollars each.
U.S. officials also say that in several cases, the women were later killed, and their organs harvested for sale on the black market. Authorities have not yet released the total number of victims, and the investigation is still ongoing.
The NCTC described the network as part of the CJNG’s broader pattern of “terrorist cartel” behavior, citing its diversification into human trafficking and organ trade. Authorities confirmed that the trafficking ring operated primarily within Mexico, exploiting the poverty and instability in the Juárez region, a known hub for cartel violence.
The newborns were trafficked to buyers through illicit channels, and authorities are still determining the full scale of the trafficking ring, which exploited Juárez’s proximity to the U.S. border and the CJNG’s extensive criminal network.
La Diabla faces multiple charges in Mexico, including femicide (the intentional murder of women or girls because of their gender), human trafficking, and organized crime.
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