"El Chapo" lawyers cited Donald Trump in extradition defense
With authorities fighting tooth and nail to extradite Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States after his dramatic capture last week, the drug lord's legal team is expected to launch a strong case against handing him over to U.S. officials.
One reason his lawyers are citing: Donald Trump.
According to a New York Times report, an injunction filed by Guzman's legal team in August to prevent extradition stated that the U.S. had a hostile environment toward Mexicans and specifically named the Republican candidate's insults as proof. Their client, therefore, would be unable to receive a fair trial, the lawyers argued.
At the launch of his White House campaign, Trump said of immigrants from Mexico, "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."
And Trump, who has since made illegal immigration a cornerstone of his presidential bid, has publicly targeted the drug kingpin before.
In one tweet, the billionaire businessman had charged that Guzman and Mexican cartels treated the U.S.-Mexico border "like it was a vacuum cleaner, sucking drugs and death right into the U.S."
An unverified Twitter account claiming to belong to "El Chapo" sent Trump a threatening message in response.
Because of the candidate's comments, Guzman reportedly placed a $100 million bounty on Trump's head.