LOS ANGELES — Mexican armed forces killed Nemesio Rubén "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, on Feb. 22. Violent retaliation spread from Jalisco to at least 20 Mexican states, with highways blocked, businesses and vehicles burned, and 25 members of the Mexican National Guard killed.

The eruption of violence lasted little more than a day, but tens of thousands of Angelenos with family in Jalisco worried about their relatives' safety. On Feb. 22, Gladdys Uribe monitored the uprising through texts, video calls and social media from her California home. Her parents, aunt and uncle, who were in Jalisco during the uprising, returned to the U.S. afterward. "In the short term, I do think that things will grow more violent," Uribe said.

Alex Martinez, who has aunts, uncles and cousins in Zapopan, Jalisco, said some of his relatives are afraid to go outside due to the cartel crisis. "It's like that saying: If you cut the head of a serpent, then more heads will grow," Martinez said. He added that cartel violence often stops when a new leader emerges. "The main hope is that there's a smooth transition of power," Martinez said.

Mixed-status families in the U.S. with ties to Mexico face the threat of deportation under the Trump administration. Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. fear deportation and becoming targets of cartels in Mexico. The Trump administration has restricted the number of foreign nationals who can enter the U.S. by revoking or denying tourist visas and by increasing immigration fees.

"Many people who are being deported currently have lived in the United States for 10 to 20 years. And so to return to a place they haven't been to since they were a child, a place that has all of this violence, I think, would just cause further instability," said Ingrid Eagly, a law professor at UCLA. "That can complicate the ability for people to leave, even if it's just for a short period of time," Eagly said.

The Jalisco New Generation cartel was formed around 2009 as one of two factions that splintered from the Milenio cartel, which had its roots in Michoacán and Jalisco in the late 1970s. Mexican and U.S. authorities have captured Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, former leaders of the Sinaloa cartel.

Migration from Jalisco to California and other U.S. states dates to the late 1800s with the construction and expansion of railroad systems in Mexico and the United States. Migration increased as people fled violence from the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War and continued with the Bracero Program, according to James Schmal of Indigenous Mexico. Up to 13 million people in California identify as being of Mexican descent, according to the 2024 American Community Survey estimates.