The Mexican government's killing of Nemesio Oseguera, known as 'El Mencho,' has done little to disrupt the Jalisco New Generation Cartel's extensive U.S. operations, according to U.S. and Mexican security sources. Despite the high-profile raid that eliminated one of the world's most wanted drug lords, the cartel's networks for weapons trafficking, fuel smuggling, and money laundering remain largely intact.

These U.S.-based operations are critical to the cartel's power, enabling it to source military-grade weapons from dozens of U.S. states and launder billions in profits. The organization has also built a multi-billion dollar cross-border petroleum empire, with complicit U.S. companies including refiners, fuel traders, and transport firms. Mexican officials are now calling on Washington to intensify efforts against money laundering, fuel smuggling, and arms trafficking.

Security experts say the Trump administration's focus on militarized actions abroad has come at the expense of domestic enforcement. While hundreds of cartel-related cases have been prosecuted in recent years, the diversion of agents to deportation efforts has reduced capacity for drug, firearms, and money laundering investigations. As one former DEA official noted, the U.S. must address both arms trafficking and domestic drug demand to effectively combat cartel operations that have become deeply embedded in the American economy.