DHS Detained Julio César Chávez Jr.: It’s Grand Opening, Grand Closing For Chavez Jr

Here is an excerpt from the DHS website:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained prominent Mexican boxer and criminal illegal alien Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and is processing him for expedited removal from the United States. Chavez is a Mexican citizen who has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.

In August 2023, he entered the country legally with a B2 tourist visa that was valid until February 2024.

Chavez is also believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. ICE arrested Chavez in Studio City, California, on July 2.

On April 2, 2024, Chavez filed an application for Lawful Permanent Resident status. Chavez’s application was based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

On December 17, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made a referral to ICE that Chavez is an egregious public safety threat. However, an entry in a DHS law enforcement system under the Biden administration indicated Chavez was not an immigration enforcement priority.

On January 4, 2025, the Biden administration allowed Chavez to reenter the country and paroled him into the country at the San Ysidro port of entry.

Following multiple fraudulent statements on his application to become a Lawful Permanent Resident, he was determined to be in the country illegally and removable on June 27, 2025.

The Ending We All Saw Coming

If you ask anyone who has been following the career of Chavez Jr. if they are surprised by the recent events, they’ll likely tell you that they aren’t. But if you peel back the onion on his life, was he set up for failure from the start?

Being the son of Julio Cesar Chavez, regarded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all time, isn’t easy shoes to fill. As much as he tried, he would never be able to fill them. That’s where he messed up. Chavez Jr. should have paved his own way, but instead used that family fame to get the opportunities within boxing and the public eye that most fighters wouldn’t get.

He’s done everything from drugs and alcohol abuse to carrying illegal weapons in his car, and that’s just outside of the ring. Inside, he missed weight, gave sparring session performances at times, and took for granted the chances people gave him. Even on Saturday night, when fans cheered loudly for him as he made his way into the ring. They were willing to put it all behind them for one more thrill, and he let them down again. It was the inevitable conclusion that we unfortunately all saw coming.

This likely marks the end of Chavez Jr.’s career, which had one highlight: becoming a WBC middleweight champion in 2012. His upbringing and how he navigated life up to this point is something of a movie, and one day, someone will tell it, whether in a documentary or a film. Until then, let’s hope that Chavez Jr. takes this last check from boxing ($750,000) and keeps a low profile until years later, when people may have forgotten about the shenanigans both in and out of the ring.