The whereabouts of Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. are currently unknown after his lawyer said he missed a court appointment unrelated to his arrest by ICE last week in California.
"We have no idea. We have no information, unfortunately," Michael Goldstein told USA Today when asked if the boxer was still in the U.S. Chavez Jr. was scheduled to appear before a court on Monday to petition for early release connected to a pretrial diversion program over gun charges filed against him in 2024.
Goldstein added that he was able to confirm on Saturday that his client had been under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody in Hidalgo, Texas. The agency had announced the arrest of Chavez Jr. last Thursday, adding that it expected to deport him due to his irregular migratory status.
The agency detailed in a statement that Chavez, a former boxing world champion, also has an "active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives." It added that the boxer was arrested in Studio City, California, on July 2.
The document adds that Chavez filed an application for Lawful Permanent Resident status in April last year based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen who, nonetheless, DHS said is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel "through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman."
In this context, Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernández detailed that Chávez Jr. married Frida Muñoz, who was previously married to Édgar Guzmán López, one of El Chapo's sons who was killed in 2008. According to Hernández, Édgar was considered to be the drug lord's favorite son, and Muñoz was allowed to remain part of the family's inner circle after his death.
"Anyone who married her would have to pass through many filters set by this criminal clan and the one who passed those filters and became the beneficiary of the fortune left to Frida by Guzmán López was Julio César Chávez Jr.," Hernández said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also weighed in on the matter following accusations of ties between Chavez Jr. and the ruling Morena party.
Speaking at her daily press conference, Sheinbaum noted that the accusations are not new and only resurfaced due to the arrest. "When there is an accusation, it must be proven. And if it's a criminal one, there must be a file and a judge needs to go through the evidence to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant," Sheinbaum said.
"I believe it is important to say it: we don't collude with anyone. We defend a project that has honesty and justice at its core," she added. "So, if there's an arrest warrant, as it's the case here, the prosecutor's office has to explain what the evidence is."
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