The Flames.

It’s unknown how soon Guzman could be sent to the U.S. He has ample opportunities to challenge the extradition under Mexican law, said San Diego defense lawyer Jan Ronis, who represented drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix.

Arellano was the head of the cartel bearing his family name. He was arrested in Mexico in 2002 but not sent to the U.S. until 2011. He is serving a 25-year sentence here.

“It’s a cumbersome process, and it’s slow,” Ronis said of the extradition process. Mexico can insist someone serve out their prison term if they have been convicted there, before being shipped to the U.S. But Mexico could also simply wash its hands and send someone across—pretty much what Ronis said happened with Arellano.

“That’s what they did to Benjamin, and he still had court challenges left there,” he said.

Whenever Guzman comes to the U.S, Ronis said it was unlikely he would end up in San Diego.

“I doubt he would come here, because the San Diego case is so old,” Ronis said, referring to the 1995 indictment. “Other cases are fresher, and they probably have more current witnesses and active cooperators on those.”

Biometric scanning is now a part of the border-crossing experience at the Otay border port, KPBS reports. The facial recognition and iris-scanning kiosks are currently being used only on non-U.S. citizen pedestrian border-crossers. Some are worrying about privacy, including the local branch of the ACLU”