10,000+ arrests, 50,000 guns seized: US ambassador touts anti-cartel firearms push

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson touted on Friday the U.S. government’s actions against the illegal trafficking of firearms — weapons that often end up in the hands of members of Mexican cartels.

“The Trump Administration is delivering results to dismantle the cartels and stop illegal firearms trafficking: nearly 50,000 firearms seized, almost 2.9 million rounds of ammunition seized and more than 10,000 arrests linked to firearms trafficking,” Johnson wrote on social media.

The Trump Administration is delivering results to dismantle the cartels and stop illegal firearms trafficking: nearly 50,000 firearms seized, almost 2.9 million rounds of ammunition seized, and more than 10,000 arrests linked to firearms trafficking. Under the leadership of… pic.twitter.com/gkepZ6SOvg

— Embajador Ronald Johnson (@USAmbMex) July 10, 2026

“Under the leadership of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and President @ClaudiaShein, our countries continue working together to make both our nations safer,” he wrote.

An infographic included in the post shows that the ambassador was referring to firearms trafficking-related arrests and seizures made by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) between January 2025 — the month U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term — and July 2026. Not all of the approximately 50,000 firearms seized were bound for Mexico. Data published by the ATF in February indicated that around 12% of all firearms seized in the U.S. since Trump returned to the White House (4,359 of 36,277 at the time) were destined for Mexico.

The Mexican government has long called on U.S. authorities to do more to stop the flow of firearms to Mexico, where U.S.-sourced weapons are commonly used by criminal organizations to commit crimes including murder. Experts estimate that approximately 135,000 firearms were trafficked to Mexico in 2022.

During the second Trump administration, the ATF has ramped up its efforts to seize weapons before they leave the United States, leading what the U.S. Department of Justice has called “an aggressive nationwide effort to dismantle the domestic and international networks that arm violent criminals.”

Earlier this month, the ATF announced that in the week starting June 29, it “initiated a search warrant that led to the seizure of 140 firearms investigators believe were intended to be delivered to a Mexican drug cartel.”

“ATF received information that a Mexican cartel source had a large cache of weapons stored in the North Carolina area and was attempting to smuggle the firearms into Mexico on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel,” the agency said in a July 2 statement.

Last September, the Mexican and U.S. governments announced the launch of a new bilateral initiative, “Mission Firewall,” aimed at disrupting the southward flow of illicit weapons across the Mexico-U.S. border.

In March, President Claudia Sheinbaum said that “at least 75%” of the weapons in the possession of organized crime groups in Mexico come from the United States, citing a U.S. Department of Justice report to support her claim.

“If the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico is stopped, these groups will not have this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities,” she said at the time.

“So that is something the United States can help us with a lot,” added Sheinbaum, whose administration seized almost 30,000 firearms between October 2024 and May 2026.

Mexico News Daily