In an astounding display of ICE’s power and grit, Tomás Jesús Yarrington Ruvalcaba, a former Mexican governor and presidential candidate, has been sent back to Mexico after serving a prison sentence in the U.S. for money laundering, with the former Mexican politician now facing additional charges in his home country.
For context, Yarrington originally served as the governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas from 1999 to 2005, and he was later a presidential candidate for Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party in 2005. 16 years later, in 2021, Yarrington pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in a U.S. trial, with the politician admitting that he accepted bribes while he was governor, using the money to purchase properties in the United States anonymously.
Reporting from Fox News clarified that Yarrington had previously been extradited to the U.S. by Italian authorities back in 2018 after his arrest in Italy, and he had attempted to push back and avoid extradition but ultimately returned to the States by force. Upon arrival in the United States, Yarrington’s next stop was federal prison.
Yarrington, 68, was initially arrested in Italy in 2017 when the politician was reportedly traveling under a false identity. Following this arrest, Yarrington was sentenced to 108 months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Thomson, Illinois, where he remained until he was transferred into ICE custody in February 2025, ultimately leading to his deportation back to Mexico.
According to press accounts, Yarrington was ordered to be removed from the U.S. by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office on April 9, 2025. Breitbart reported that Yarrington’s prosecution was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, with collaboration from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation team, the FBI, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office, confirming that getting Yarrington deported was a major team effort.
ICE officials released a statement that provided further details regarding Yarrington’s criminal charges, confirming that he made purchases with bribe money while serving as a Mexican governor. ICE stated, “Yarrington used the bribery money he received while governor to purchase properties in the U.S. He had nominee buyers buy property in the U.S. to hide his ownership of the properties and the illegal bribery money used to purchase them.”
Commenting further on the incident, ICE officials elaborated on Yarrington’s shady dealings, which included some hugely expensive purchases made in the U.S. An ICE representative told Fox News, “Yarrington laundered his illegally obtained bribe money in the United States by purchasing beachfront condominiums, large estates, commercial developments, airplanes, and luxury vehicles.”
"*" indicates required fields
Concluding their official statement, ICE officials wrote that Yarrington was taken directly from federal prison and taken into ICE custody on July 3, 2024, and had been awaiting a result for his immigration proceedings ever since. ICE also confirmed that Yarrington did not protest, writing, “He waived his right to appeal.”
Featured image credit: ICE.gov