Some weeks demand that we look clearly at what is broken and what is working at the same time. This is one of those weeks. The U.S. indictment of Sinaloa's governor is a watershed moment in the bilateral relationship. The debate over designating Mexico's Morena party a terrorist organization is a fire that could burn down the very cooperation we need. And a basketball court in Phoenix gave one hundred and fifty young people something no policy paper ever could. That is where we start.

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Let me be direct with you about what happened this week, because it is more significant than most people realize.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department charged Rubén Rocha Moya, the governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state, with conspiring with a cartel to get drugs into the United States in exchange for political favors. No American administration has ever indicted a sitting Mexican governor.

I managed a 13 billion dollar budget and led a 60,000-person workforce at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I understand, from the inside, how long and how carefully these investigations are built. You do not indict a sitting governor on speculation. This indictment reflects years of intelligence collection and a deliberate decision at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. prosecutors allege Rocha Moya met with the Chapitos prior to his election and assured them that if elected, he would put officials friendly to their drug trafficking operations into power. Cartel members stole ballot boxes and kidnapped or intimidated opponents to drop out of the race to ensure his victory.

That is not corruption at the margins. That is a democratic election being stolen by a cartel.

Many Mexicans living cartel violence almost daily in Sinaloa welcomed news of the indictment and the governor's resignation as a step toward accountability, with one resident saying: "Unfortunately it was another country that had to take action."

That quote breaks my heart, because it is true. The people of Sinaloa and Mexico deserve a government that protects them. They did not get one. What concerns me now is the response from Mexico City. President Sheinbaum said she wouldn't let foreign governments meddle in her country's affairs to serve their own political purposes, while simultaneously pledging a domestic investigation. Accountability must be the priority, not sovereignty arguments that shield those who failed the public.

The border communities I come from need both countries to be fully honest about what happened here. This is not the moment for defensive posturing. It is the moment for accountability for Sinaloa and the next set of indictments that are coming.

This past weekend in Phoenix, something happened that I am genuinely proud to have been part of.

AccesoLatino, a program of the Carlos Slim Foundation, along with Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley, ESPN, Chicanos Por La Causa, and Helios Education Foundation, hosted a free two-day youth basketball clinic for Valley youth ages 8 to 17 at the Jerry Colangelo Branch of Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley. Strategic coordination for the initiative was led by Intermestic Partners.

One hundred and fifty young people came out. They dribbled, they competed, they laughed, and they left with something more valuable than basketball skills. They left knowing that someone invested in them.

That is what this is really about. In a week dominated by indictments and geopolitical tension, I want us to remember what we are actually fighting for. The kids who showed up, from every background and every corner of this city, are not just a policy variable in a Washington debate. They are families. They are kids in Phoenix who wake up on a weekend morning wondering if anyone believes in their future.

Programs like AccesoLatino at accesolatino.org are proof that binational partnership does not have to wait for politicians to get their act together. The Carlos Slim Foundation, ESPN, Chicanos Por La Causa, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley, and Helios Education Foundation all came together around a simple, powerful idea: put kids on a court, give them coaches who care, and let them dream bigger.

I grew up in Nogales, Arizona, right on the border. I know what it means for a kid to see possibility reflected back at them in their own community. Sports diplomacy is not a slogan. It is a strategy. When young people build relationships across cultures through competition and teamwork, they become the next generation of leaders who know how to work across borders, not just talk about it.

This weekend was a reminder of why we do this work. The investment in young people is always the right move.

A question is now circulating in serious Washington circles that would have sounded unthinkable a year ago: should the United States designate the Morena party itself as a terrorist organization or a criminal enterprise?

Let me tell you why this idea, even as a threat, carries enormous consequences that we need to think through carefully.

The case marks the first time that the U.S. Department of Justice has gone after a sitting Mexican governor for cartel-connected charges, and it points to a broader move by the DOJ to go after cartel-connected politicians, primarily those associated with the Morena ruling party.

As of 2025, Morena holds the presidency, majorities in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and most governorships, making it the largest political party in Mexico by representation.

That is the core problem with designating the entire party rather than specific individuals. Morena is not a cartel. It is a political party with tens of millions of members, elected officials at every level of Mexican government, and a democratically chosen president in Claudia Sheinbaum. Designating it wholesale would be designating the Mexican state itself.

More than 50 politicians from the ruling Morena party have already had their U.S. visas revoked, with a senior U.S. State Department official noting that visas may be revoked for activities that run contrary to America's national interest, including drug trafficking, corruption, or aiding illegal immigration.

That tool, targeted visa revocations, is the right tool. It applies pressure to specific individuals with evidence behind it, without triggering a full diplomatic rupture with Mexico.

I have been a former elected official. I understand the temptation to reach for the largest hammer available. But the most effective policy is precise, legally defensible, and sustainable. Designating a governing political party as a terrorist organization would collapse the bilateral relationship, ignite a nationalist backlash in Mexico that would strengthen Morena's political position, and put at risk the very security cooperation we are trying to build.

Hold individuals accountable. Protect the relationship. That is the path that actually works.

Thanks for reading this edition of my newsletter! I'd love to hear from you. Share your thoughts about what you think are the most critical issues that need to be addressed. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on social media using the hashtag #Intermestic.

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