Mexico’s long-troubled justice system has once again come under scrutiny after a series of high-profile expulsions of alleged cartel members to the United States highlighted how powerful criminal figures have manipulated legal protections to delay prosecution and avoid extradition. The central focus of the controversy is the “amparo,” a constitutional safeguard originally intended to protect ordinary citizens from state abuse, but which has increasingly become a tool of choice for the country’s most dangerous criminals.

Earlier this month, Mexican authorities placed 26 suspected cartel operatives on a plane bound for the US, where they face indictments ranging from drug trafficking and money laundering to kidnapping and murder. Yet their removal was not conducted through Mexico’s traditional extradition process. Instead, officials invoked extraordinary national security powers to circumvent the years of legal stalling engineered by the suspects through the amparo system.

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch defended the decision in a televised press conference, arguing that the move was necessary to prevent cartel leaders from continuing to command violent operations from within Mexican prisons. “Many of them had obtained amparos in order to remain in low-security prisons, and others expected similar rulings,” he said, stressing that their ability to coordinate extortion, homicides, and kidnappings even while incarcerated posed an unacceptable risk.

The amparo, which translates as “protection,” is one of Mexico’s most important legal innovations. First introduced in the constitution of the short-lived Republic of Yucatán in 1841 and formally adopted by Mexico two decades later, the mechanism allows individuals to challenge any government action, law, or judicial decision they believe violates their constitutional rights. Over the years, at least 17 Latin American countries........

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