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State Dept slammed with hundreds of calls from Americans trapped in Mexico

State Dept slammed with hundreds of calls from Americans trapped in Mexico

The State Department has received hundreds of calls on its 24/7 crisis hotline as Americans in Mexico scramble to find ways home amid escalating chaos following the killing of a top cartel leader.  The calls have been mostly pertaining to flight cancellations and concerns about travel back to the U.S., Fox News has learned. Violence erupted in Mexico after a Feb. 22 government operation in which Jalisco New Generation cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes was killed. The cartel leader was killed during a shootout inside his home as the Mexican military attempted to capture him. The operation was carried out by Mexican forces with U.S. intelligence support.  MEXICO VIOLENCE SEES DOZENS OF MILITARY TROOPS, CRIMINALS DEAD AFTER CARTEL LEADER ‘EL MENCHO’ KILLED Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said the 25 Mexican National Guard troops in Jalisco were killed in six separate attacks following the killing of El Mencho. He also said some 30 criminal suspects were killed in Jalisco and four others were killed in Michoacan. Additionally, García Harfuch said that a prison guard, an agent from the state prosecutor’s office and a woman whom he did not identify were also killed. The State Department’s travel advisory for Mexico, which was issued in August 2025, has since been updated regarding areas of risk. The Mexican states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas are under a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory. Meanwhile, the states under a “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” advisory are Baja California, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos and Sonora. MAJOR DRUG LORD ‘EL MENCHO’ KILLED IN MEXICAN MILITARY OPERATION WITH US INTELLIGENCE SUPPORT Americans in Mexico who need consular assistance are advised to call the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs at +1-202-501-4444 from outside the U.S. or +1-888-407-4747 from within the U.S. or Canada.  Additionally, the department has recommended U.S. citizens enroll in the online Smart Traveler Enrollment Program or follow the “U.S. Department of State – Security Updates for U.S. Citizens” WhatsApp channel for safety and security updates. The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, also known as STEP, allows the U.S. embassy or consulate to contact travelers or their emergency contact if necessary. On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico issued an updated security alert for Jalisco State, including Puerto Vallarta, Chapala and Guadalajara, and Nayarit State, including the Nuevo Nayarit/Nuevo Vallarta area near Puerto Vallarta. The embassy and consulates said in the joint alert that due to road blockages and criminal activity, U.S. government staffers in several locations — including Guadalajara (Jalisco), Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco/Nayarit), and Ciudad Guzman (Jalisco) — are sheltering in place. The government entities said the workers would remain sheltered in place until blockades are cleared and called on U.S. citizens to follow suit. While the State Department hotline has been flooded with calls regarding flight cancellations, the embassy and consulates noted that “all airports in Mexico are open, and most airports are operating normally.” The entities noted that travelers whose flights to the U.S. had been canceled could be able to book a connecting flight through another Mexican city, as not all airports were impacted by the disruptions. Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

Where Trump stands in the eyes of Americans ahead of the State of the Union address

Where Trump stands in the eyes of Americans ahead of the State of the Union address

President Donald Trump, taking to social media earlier this month, touted, “The highest Poll Numbers I have ever received.” “Obviously, people like a strong and powerful Country, with the best economy, EVER!” the president added in a post on his Truth Social platform. But on the day of his annual State of the Union Address, Trump’s poll numbers remain in negative territory in the vast majority of national surveys. The president’s approval rating stands at 44% in the latest Fox News national poll, which was conducted late last month, with 56% disapproving of the job he’s doing in the White House. STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP’S TEAM HUDDLES OVER MIDTERM MESSAGING And he stood at 39% approval among all adults and 41% among registered voters in an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos survey conducted Feb 12-17 and released on Sunday. An average of the most recent surveys conducted over the past four weeks puts Trump’s approval ratings in the low 40s, with disapproval in the mid-50s. Trump started his second term in positive territory, but his approval ratings sank below water last March and have slowly edged down deeper into negative territory in the ensuing months. The latest surveys point to a massive partisan divide, with continued strong support for the president among Republicans, a thumbs down among independents and near total disapproval among Democrats. FOX NEWS POLL: AN EARLY LOOK AT THE 2026 MIDTERMS “Support among Republicans has remained in place, but the opposition has become even more calcified,” veteran Republican pollster Daron Shaw told Fox News Digital, as he pointed to Democrats. Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and kept their House majority. “We had record inflation. We don’t have it anymore,” Trump said at a campaign event last week in Rome, Georgia. “I’m going to make a State of the Union address on Tuesday. I hope you’re going to watch and we’re going to be talking about it.” But the president’s approval ratings on the economy are, on average, slightly lower than his overall approval ratings. DNC CHAIR KEN MARTIN BOASTS ‘WIN AFTER WIN,’ SHRUGS OFF MASSIVE TRUMP, REPUBLICAN MONEY LEAD And Democrats say their decisive victories in November’s 2025 elections, and their overperformances in special elections and other ballot box showdowns in the year since Trump returned to office, were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation. A slew of surveys, including the latest Fox News polling, indicate Americans are pessimistic about the economy and say things have not generally improved during the second Trump administration. “He can’t unstick the notion that inflation is too high and that the economy is not moving in the right direction,” added Shaw, who helps run the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. But Democrats don’t have much to brag about when it comes to the polls. The party’s brand dropped to historic lows last year in a slew of polls, with the trend continuing into the new year. The president’s primetime address in front of Congress comes with just over eight months to go until the midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their razor-thin majority in the House and their narrow control of the Senate. Last week, the president’s political team huddled in a closed-door strategy session with Trump administration Cabinet members and their top aides on how best to sell the president’s agenda to voters in this year’s midterm elections. TRUMP CHEERS STEADY INFLATION NUMBERS AS AFFORDABILITY FIGHT SHAPES 2026 MIDTERM BATTLE According to sources familiar with the meeting, the message during a slide presentation by chief pollster and strategist Tony Fabrizio was that the economy will be the top issue on the minds of voters, and that the White House needs to spotlight its efforts on easing affordability. “Team Trump will deploy every resource necessary to win the midterms, protect our majorities, and ensure President Trump keeps delivering results for America’s working families,” a source in the president’s political orbit told Fox News Digital. Regardless of Trump’s overall approval ratings, he remains very popular and influential with Republicans. And in what may be a base election, the GOP sees the president as their best tool to motivate low-propensity MAGA voters, who don’t always vote when Trump’s not on the ballot, to show up at the polls during the midterms. Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital last month that Trump was the GOP’s “secret weapon” that will help Republicans “defy history” in the midterms. “We got to make sure we turn our voters out, and we got to make sure that we have people energized. And there’s nobody that can energize our base more than President Trump,” Gruters said.

With ‘El Mencho’ killed, what’s next for Mexico and the Jalisco cartel?

With ‘El Mencho’ killed, what’s next for Mexico and the Jalisco cartel?

The killing of Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, or CJNG), has triggered a wave of violence across several Mexican states, including Jalisco. Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho”, was killed in an operation by Mexico’s army on Sunday. Recommended Stories list of 2 itemsend of list But what is the Jalisco cartel, and what happens next after the killing of one of the most powerful drug lords in the country? What happened in Mexico on Sunday? Shortly after news of El Mencho‘s killing spread, suspected cartel members launched coordinated reprisals across multiple states. Attackers torched convenience stores and petrol stations, dragged trucks onto major highways and erected flaming roadblocks, known locally as narcobloqueos, paralysing cities and cutting off key routes. “Panic spread among many people,” Miguel Alfonso Meza, director of Defensorx, a Mexican civil organisation dedicated to strategic litigation and the defence of human rights, told Al Jazeera. “I heard from several relatives who had panic attacks; they were calling in tears, desperate, because they didn’t know what was going to happen,” he added. The violence appeared intended to project strength and demonstrate the cartel’s reach following the loss of its leader. In Jalisco alone, more than 25 National Guard members were killed. “That makes it one of the bloodiest days, with some of the greatest losses for the federal government,” Meza said. “It is also the first time we’ve seen coordinated attacks across more than 20 states at once. Advertisement “I call it a terrorist attack,” he added, “in the sense that groups are labelled ‘terrorist’ when they use violence to instil fear in the population. And that is exactly what we experienced.” What is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel? The Jalisco cartel is one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations. Founded in about 2009-2010, the group emerged from the remnants of the Milenio cartel and quickly grew into a dominant force in the country’s drug trade. It built a reputation for ruthlessness and violence unlike any since the fall of the old Zetas cartel. Los Zetas were one of Mexico’s most feared criminal groups, founded by former elite soldiers who deserted and brought military tactics into organised crime. They became notorious for using extreme brutality and for expanding beyond drug trafficking into kidnapping, extortion and fuel theft.  What does the cartel do? The United States Department of State has described the cartel as one of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organisations, with significant cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine distribution networks, and in recent years a major role in fentanyl trafficking into the US. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid linked to thousands of deaths in the US. Beyond drug trafficking, the group profits from extortion, migrant smuggling, and oil and mineral theft. It operates across much of Mexico and has built international trafficking routes stretching through Latin America to the US and parts of Asia. The cartel has also been linked to a series of high-profile attacks against security forces and public officials. In 2015, gunmen shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade during an operation to capture its leader. In June 2020, the group attempted to assassinate then public security secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch in Mexico City. He survived. Two bodyguards and a civilian were killed. How does it operate? Analysts say the cartel’s growth has been driven as much by strategy as by brutality. “The CJNG has normalised the worst horrors of the Mexican drug wars, bodies hanging from lampposts, decapitated heads on the side of the road,” Chris Dalby, senior analyst at Dyami Security Intelligence, told Al Jazeera. But he argues the violence is not random. It is deliberate and performative, designed to dominate rivals quickly and discourage resistance. “That was an aberration a generation ago. The CJNG made it almost daily news. And that’s because of the way El Mencho trained his cartel. Advertisement “He trained them almost like Genghis Khan in their approach to conquest,” Dalby said, referring to the feared Mongol warrior. “They would wipe out opposition and use that as a warning: If you oppose us, this is what will happen to you.” That approach helped the cartel grow quickly across multiple states, but it also meant constant confrontation. Much of its influence rests on mobility, intimidation and strategic alliances rather than deeply rooted territorial control. Smoke billows from burning vehicles in Puerto Vallarta amid a wave of violence, with torched vehicles and gunmen blocking highways in more than half a dozen states [Reuters] What is next for Mexico after the killing of ‘El Mencho’? The death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera is one of the most significant blows to a Mexican criminal organisation. While experts note the CJNG may now be in a “weaker position”, many warn that “decapitating” the cartel without dismantling its resources is a mistake. Critics argue that instead of long-term “financial strangulation”, the government has returned to a strategy that previously failed during the presidency of Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). Under Calderon, a hardline military offensive targeted cartel leaders in an effort to dismantle organised crime. But while several senior drug kingpins were captured or killed, the crackdown led to violent fragmentation. Hundreds of thousands were killed or disappeared in the years that followed, yet criminal groups ultimately adapted and continued to expand. When the current governing party, Morena, came to power in 2018 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, it promised a different approach. Obrador’s slogan, “abrazos, no balazos” (“hugs, not bullets”), signalled a move away from high-profile kingpin takedowns towards social programmes and addressing root causes of violence. Former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador [FILE: Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/Reuters] Critics now question whether that strategy has eroded amid sustained US pressure on President Claudia Sheinbaum to curb drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl, with Washington repeatedly urging tougher action against major cartels. In Sunday’s operation, the Mexican government stated it was carried out by Mexican special forces with intelligence support from the US.

US women’s ice hockey team declines Trump’s State of the Union invitation

US women’s ice hockey team declines Trump’s State of the Union invitation

Olympics gold medal-winning team has politely turned down a request from President Donald Trump to attend his address in the capital. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 2 mins info Published On 24 Feb 202624 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The women’s ice hockey team of the United States has declined an invitation to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, US media reported, after he joked he would be “impeached” if he did not ask them to attend. NBC cited a statement from the women’s team on Monday, saying players would be “unable to participate” in the State of the Union address. Recommended Stories list of 2 itemsend of list “We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning US Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” the statement said. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate.” Both Republicans and Democrats traditionally bring guests to watch the president’s annual address to Congress, and Trump invited the US men’s ice hockey team after they won Olympic gold on Sunday. Team USA’s women’s team won gold for the first time since 2018 when they beat the Canadians 2-1 on Thursday. In a video shared online, Trump can be heard on speakerphone in a call with the men’s team, inviting them to the address before saying, “We’re gonna have to bring the women’s team, you do know that”, to which the players laugh. “I do believe I would probably be impeached, OK?” the president added. It is not clear if the men’s team have formally accepted Trump’s invitation, but they can be heard cheering and saying, “We’re in.” The AFP news agency has contacted the team for comment. Security fencing surrounds the US Capitol in advance of the US president’s State of the Union address, in Washington, DC [Kylie Cooper/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)

Schools shut, troops on streets: Mexico on alert after ‘El Mencho’ killing

Schools shut, troops on streets: Mexico on alert after ‘El Mencho’ killing

Authorities deploy 10,000 soldiers nationwide to quell violence following the drug lord’s killing in a military operation. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 3 mins info Published On 24 Feb 202624 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Mexico remains on high alert after a wave of reprisal attacks triggered by the killing of its most wanted drug cartel leader, even as President Claudia Sheinbaum claimed the country is at peace and life is returning to normal. Some 10,000 soldiers have been deployed across 20 of Mexico’s 32 states to maintain order following the killing of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera in a military operation about 130km (80 miles) from Guadalajara city on Sunday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Guadalajara is the capital of western Mexico’s Jalisco state – the stronghold of Oseguera’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – where at least 2,000 soldiers have been sent. Schools in Guadalajara and several other Mexican cities were closed on Monday. However, public transport partially resumed, though buses carried few passengers, as people witnessed a slow return to normalcy. Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday that at least 74 people were killed, including 25 National Guard officers, in the operation that killed the cartel boss and the subsequent violence over the killing of the 59-year-old drug kingpin, one of the most wanted men in Mexico and the United States. Burned-out vehicles are seen on the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico [Arturo Montero/EPA] “El Mencho” was considered the last of the drug lords who acted in the brutal mould of the now-imprisoned Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, of the rival Sinaloa Cartel. He was a founding member of CJNG, which was formed in 2009 and has grown into one of Mexico’s most violent crime organisations. Advertisement Following his killing, suspected CJNG members set fire to cars in several states and blocked numerous roads. They also attacked banks, petrol stations and shops. Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from Mexico City, said there was an eerie quiet in the country following El Mencho’s killing. “Many businesses are closed, and the trucks that the CJNG cartel dragged across roads to stop Mexican security forces and create chaos have been moved out of the way,” Holman said. Meanwhile, President Sheinbaum said on Monday that peace had returned to the country. “Mexico is calm. We woke up without any roadblocks, and all activity has been restored,” she said. The White House confirmed that the US provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico’s army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries. Sheinbaum stressed that only Mexican forces were involved in the operation. “There was no participation in the operation by US forces. What we have is a lot of exchange of information provided by the US government, but the entire operation, from its planning stage, is the responsibility of [Mexico’s] federal forces,” the president said. Experts now warn that the “absence of a direct succession” within CJNG could lead to a power vacuum and violent fights to fill it. Adblock test (Why?)