Gunfire exchange between Border Patrol and suspected cartel members

A gunfire exchange occurred between U.S. Border Patrol agents and suspected cartel members. It happened around 2 p.m. as a group of illegal aliens attempted to  cross the Rio Grande. Unfortunately for the illegal aliens, they did not make it across. Neither the Border Patrol nor the suspected cartel members were hit.

From Fox News:

President Trump recently designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

The area where the gunfire exchange took place is near Fronton Island, also unofficially known as “Cartel Island” due to the criminal activity there. In an interview with Fox News Digital in 2023, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said that she declared the land as Texas territory — even though it had not officially been before — to grant law enforcement the right to patrol there.

“One of the things that the General Land Office does is determine the center of a waterway,” Buckingham said at the time. “Everything that is the center of the Rio Grande and north, of course, the state of Texas and the United States territory.”

“The land just hadn’t been accurately declared as it was forming in the river. That’s why we had to step in and officially declare it Texas territory.”

Last week, a Fox News Digital exclusive found that a sharp drop in illegal immigrant encounters occurred in the first days of the Trump administration — 35% lower than the final three days of the Biden administration.

Additional Reading:

Margolis, A., & Melugin, B. (2025, January 27). Mexican cartels fire at Border Patrol agents as Trump ramps up enforcement: Officials. Fox News. Link.

Category: Illegal Immigrants