An alleged cartel figure wanted in Chicago on drug trafficking charges was among more than two-dozen fugitives sent to the U.S. by Mexico this week as part of a deal with the Trump administration to ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling narcotics across the border.

Jose Antonio Vivanco Hernandez was indicted in federal court in Chicago in 2017 on charges he was part of a group of high-level cartel traffickers that smuggled thousands of pounds of cocaine and other drugs across the U.S.-Texas border, disguising it in semi-trucks loaded with laundry detergent, snack foods and furniture.

One of the main suppliers of the group was Martin Villegas, a then-kingpin in the notoriously violent Beltran-Leyva Cartel, records show.

The drugs were moved to warehouses in the Chicago area

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