The new leader of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel is an American citizen, a distinction that could complicate efforts by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to target him even as Washington and Mexico deepen cooperation against drug traffickers, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The news outlet identified the cartel’s new chief as Juan Carlos Valencia González, the California-born stepson of slain kingpin Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” Valencia González’s U.S. citizenship gives him constitutional protections that other cartel bosses do not have, potentially creating legal and procedural hurdles for American surveillance and other operations directed at him.

U.S. intelligence agencies would ordinarily need approval from the attorney general and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to directly target or collect personal data on an American overseas, including by showing he was acting as an “agent of a foreign power.” Current and former U.S. officials told the newspaper those requirements could slow fast-moving operations.

The issue has taken on greater importance after the death of Oseguera in a Mexican special forces raid aided by U.S. intelligence, the Journal reported. High-definition surveillance from CIA drones was crucial to locating him in Tapalpa, in western Mexico, and Mexican troops killed him and eight bodyguards after storming the compound, according to people familiar with the operation cited by the paper.

Valencia González’s citizenship would also raise the stakes if President Trump pursues his stated interest in targeted killings of cartel leaders. Since the Trump administration designated eight Latin American criminal groups as terrorist organizations, the U.S. military has killed more than 150 people described by administration officials as “narco-terrorists” on speedboats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the WSJ said.

Valencia González, whose nicknames include “Baldy,” “Bimbo” and “R-3,” was born in Santa Ana, Calif., and has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, the Journal reported. He comes from a family deeply rooted in organized crime: his biological father founded the Milenio Cartel, while his mother, Rosalinda González Valencia, was a leading figure in the “Cuinis” group, the financial arm of the Jalisco cartel.

A recent report by Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office described Valencia González as extremely violent, according to the Journal. He previously led cartel units used in paramilitary attacks on rival groups and was tied to an organization that has killed more than 100 state officials and shot down a military helicopter in 2015.

Mexican officials told the WSJ the government now sees no turning back after Oseguera’s death, but fears of an immediate succession war have eased because Valencia González is viewed internally as the figure best positioned to hold the cartel together. Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security consultant, told the Journal that he has the strongest internal legitimacy to ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal