Returning migrants find Mexico transformed by drug cartels and violence

Los Angeles Times ^ | Jan. 18, 2026 3 AM PT | Steve Fisher, Kate Linthicum

[E. Pluribus Unum]

MEXICO CITY — Adrián Ramírez hadn’t been to his hometown in western Mexico for more than two decades. When he finally returned there early last year after being deported from the United States, he found the place transformed.

Ramírez remembered the town as vibrant. But the discotheque where he used to dance through the night in his 20s was gone. The bustling evening market, where locals gather for tacos, now empties out early. After 10 p.m., cartel members wielding military-grade weapons take control of the streets.

“It is no longer the same Mexico of my childhood,” said Ramírez, 45, who asked to be identified by his middle and last name for security reasons. “There was more joy, more freedom. But that’s not the case anymore.”

Anyone returning to their hometown after decades away will note changes — old businesses close and new ones open, some people move away and others die. Adjusting to such shifts has long been part of the Mexican migrant experience.

But many of the tens of thousands of people who have been deported to Mexico by the Trump administration have spent decades in the U.S. and are discovering that their country has also changed in more profound ways.

Criminal groups, better armed and better organized than in the past, now control about a third of Mexican territory, according to an analysis by the U.S. military. Gangs have branched out beyond drug trafficking to extort money from small businesses and dominate entire industries, such as the avocado and lime trade. In some regions, criminals charge taxes on just about anything — tortillas and chicken, cigarettes and beer.

Parts of Michoacán, the state where Ramírez is from, now resemble an actual battlefield, with criminal groups fighting each other with grenade launchers, drones rigged with explosives and improvised land...

---

TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS:

[Jeff Chandler]

Welcome Home

[Secret Agent Man]

Dude bailed and left the problem for others.

[shelterguy]

“”””Ramírez remembered the town as vibrant. But the discotheque where he used to dance through the night in his 20s was gone. The bustling evening market, where locals gather for tacos, now empties out early. After 10 p.m., cartel members wielding military-grade weapons take control of the streets. “””

So....it’s just like Minneapolistan.

[kalee]

So you and your compadres will have to fix it.
Fight not flight.

[philman_36]

Parts of Michoacán, the state where Ramírez is from, now resemble an actual battlefield, with criminal groups fighting each other with grenade launchers, drones rigged with explosives and improvised land...

Cue Mexican President...

[No name given]

Yep.

[Lurker]

So get some guns if your own and take care of business.

L

[Sarah Barracuda]

Yeah and left would be fine with this country overtaken by drugs because the majority of them are in bed with the cartels. I read a study that last year was the LOWEST number for overdose deaths in the US, gee what happened last Jan, thinking, thinking..

[Ge0ffrey]

What’s the name of the hometown? Without a name, this is speculative fiction.

[DAC21]

“Ramírez remembered the town as vibrant”

Why did he leave? Free $hit in the USA I guess.

[joshua c]

the mexican drug cartels were greatly enriched

by biden’s open border policy

[BradyLS]

Parts of Michoacán, the state where Ramírez is from, now resemble an actual battlefield, with criminal groups fighting each other with grenade launchers, drones rigged with explosives and improvised …

Sounds mostly peaceful. What’s his beef? /s

[sheana]

And the town I grew up in here in the good ole USA...which was white....is now 98% hispanic....and you better be out of there before dark. Adios Muchacho. Welcome to what your people did to my town.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Returning migrants find Mexico transformed by drug cartels and violence.

Lost Angeless Slimes

Returning illegal trespassers/invaders find Mexico transformed by drug cartels and violence

There, fixed it

Also, there should be a Jumbo Tron at the Mexican border, and in Michoacán, playing a loop of Officer John McClane: "Welcome to the party, pal!"

[KittyKares]

We sure don’t want to import all that here!

[AZJeep]

Last year we went on trip to central Mexico.
Morelia, the capital of Michoacan was the nicest place we visited. Old, Charming, peaceful.
Really liked it.
Obviously, that was just short tourist stay, but we felt pretty safe there!

[butterdezillion]

How can the LA Times be so racist, to say that brown people are corrupt?

[Impala64ssa]

Ramirez was here at least 20yrs before he was picked up and deported. ASSuming he was that quintessential hard working “undocumented immigrant” the left insist they are he had more than enough time to attain the means to hire a competent immigration attorney so he could’ve become a LEGAL citizen.

[Brian Griffin]

I saw no evidence of any cartel activity in the time I was in Tijuana.

The Mexicans do guard their border well. There will be no easy repatriation or return of Central Americans.