The Governor of the Mexican State of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican Officials have been charged by U.S. Federal Authorities in New York for allegedly conspiring with leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to import large amounts of drugs into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes.

Sinaloan Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and the other defendants “have been most closely aligned with the faction of the Cartel run by the sons of Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, a/k/a “El Chapo,” the Cartel’s notorious former leader, who are themselves known collectively as the “Chapitos,” according to a US Justice Department news release issued on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.

“The Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll. The support of corrupt foreign officials for deadly trafficking of drugs must end. Let these charges send a clear message to all officials around the globe who work with narco-traffickers: no matter your title or position, we are committed to bringing you to justice.” - U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton

Governor Rocha Moya took to x.com to declare his innocence as well as to call the charges against him “slander” and a “perverse strategy” to undermine Mexico’s national sovereignty:

The US Ambassador to Mexico tried to tamp down suggestions that the US charges against the Governor and other Mexican officials might damage relations between the countries by issuing a statement declaring that “corruption that enables organized crime … harms both our countries.”

Other current Mexican officials named in the indictment alongside the Governor of Sinaloa include a Mexican Senator from Sinaloa, the Deputy Attorney General for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office, and the Mayor of Culiacán (the State Capital of Sinaloa).

“The Sinaloa Cartel is not just trafficking deadly drugs; it is a designated terrorist organization that relies on corruption and bribery to drive violence and profit.” - DEA Administrator Terrance Cole.

Others charged include former high-level law enforcement officers of Sinaloa and Culiacán. An ex-commander in the Culiacan Municipal Police has also been charged in the kidnappings of a DEA source and the source’s relatives (one of them a 13-year-old boy) that resulted in their deaths.

Do you think these indictments will damage US-Mexican government relations?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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The US Border Patrol is “surging” a large number of agents to its Laredo, Texas sector in response to a recent surge in cartel human smuggling activity there. Both NewsNation and The Daily Wire are reporting the surge will consist of “at least 200 agents,” with The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer reporting the agents “are being pulled for 30-day volunteer duties to support colleagues in Laredo, Texas, who are trying to address a surge in “gotaways,” while NewsNation’s Ali Bradley reports her “sources say it’s because it is the busiest sector right now.”

“Everyone from across the country is getting sent there,” one Border Patrol source told The Daily Wire.

Here’s a look at what Laredo Sector agents have encountered in recent days:

CBP Agents intercepted almost two dozen illegal aliens packed inside the sleeper compartment of the cab of a truck crossing into Texas.

CBP agents and Laredo PD Officers stopped the human smuggler on Interstate 35 and discovered 22 illegal aliens:

• 19 from Mexico

• 1 from Guatemala

• 2 unaccompanied minors from Mexico.

The driver, a U.S. citizen, is facing alien smuggling charges.

Also, in recent days, Laredo Border Patrol Agents found ten illegal aliens crammed inside the cab of yet another semi-truck driven by a human smuggler attempting to drive through one of their checkpoints:

• One 13-year-old was locked in a closet compartment of a semi.

• A pregnant woman was hidden in the back of the sleeper.

• Eight other illegal aliens were hiding under mattresses and in compartments.

And, in yet another unsuccessful attempt to smuggle illegal aliens through a Laredo checkpoint, a K9 alerted his Border Patrol handler that something was suspicious about a box truck a driver told them was loaded with “car parts.

Using bold cutters to break into the cargo compartment, instead of “parts,” agents found seven illegal aliens hiding behind a mattress. They were deported back to Mexico.

The driver, a U.S. citizen and previously convicted felon, faces alien smuggling charges.

Elsewhere in Laredo, Border Patrol Agents also recently busted a “stash house,” where they discovered 17 aliens recently brought across the border by one of the cartels awaiting transportation deeper into the state, consisting of:

• 13 Mexican nationals

• 2 Mexican juveniles

• 1 Nicaraguan

• 1 Salvadoran

  Do you think a “surge” of US Border Patrol Agents will stem this cartel human smuggling surge in Laredo?

  Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

  Abrazos,

  Jack Beavers

  

  

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U.S. government employees have been ordered to avoid the greater Reynosa, Mexico area, and U.S. citizens are advised by the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros not to cross over from Texas into Reynosa across from McAllen, Texas, because a wave of cartel violence sparked by the arrest of a local cartel leader on Monday, April 27, 2026.

“U.S. Consulate Matamoros has received reports of violent criminal activity, including roadblocks in Reynosa,” a US State Department statement said.

Businesses were set afire, and stolen trucks blocked area highways in response to the arrest of a man known locally as “El Metro 9,” the leader of the "Los Metros" faction of the Gulf Cartel (CDG).

This latest warning against travel to Reynosa follows a “Level 4 - Do Not Travel” advisory that has been issued for some time to U.S. residents by the State Department for the entire state of Tamaulipas “due to terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.”

The State Department advises US residents to:

• Avoid the greater Reynosa area

• Maintain a high level of vigilance and keep a low profile

• Monitor local media for updates

• Be aware of your surroundings

• Notify friends and family of your safety

• Review your personal security plans and follow the instructions of local authorities

• Call 911 if you need emergency assistance

Who to contact if you need assistance:

• Contact Form

• From Mexico: 55 8526 2561

• From the United States: +1-844-528-6611

• Department of State – Consular Affairs: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-201-501-4444

How concerned are you about cartel violence across the border from Texas or the dangers of traveling into Mexico?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

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Jack Beavers

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We are re-publishing it on US Border News as part of our commitment to bringing you coverage from diverse voices on important border issues.

For the past 13 years, Maricopa County in Arizona has attempted to reform its sheriff’s department after Joe Arpaio made it into a national flash point for extreme immigration tactics. After a legal immigrant sued Arpaio and the county Sheriff’s Office, a federal district court ruled in 2015 that Arpaio and his deputies relied on racial profiling to target Latinos.

Arpaio was at the center of that suit. From 2006 to 2017, he implemented his own immigration detention program, instructing deputies to detain anyone who did not carry a valid identification and did not speak English. One U.S. Department of Justice attorney characterized Arpaio as overseeing “the worst pattern of racial profiling by a law enforcement agency in U.S. history.”

Federal oversight has since aimed to reform the sheriff’s department and improve trust with the county’s Latino residents, which had been destroyed under Arpaio’s tenure.

As a historian of U.S. immigration, I believe Arpaio’s immigration detention methods are clearly echoed in the hardline immigration policies devised by presidential aide Stephen Miller. That’s evident in actions by immigration agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection that have been described as inhumane by some lawmakers and civil rights groups.

A blueprint for ICE facilities

From his election as sheriff in 1993 until 2017, Arpaio made constant headlines for his creation of a tent jail and his heavy-handed immigration enforcement tactics.

Using surplus army tents from the Korean War to house up to 1,700 inmates, Arpaio built Tent City in August 1993 to address overcrowding in Phoenix jails. By the time the jail closed in 2017, his successor, Maricopa Sheriff Paul Penzone, estimated that running Tent City cost taxpayers US $8.5 million annually.

Tent City was initially used for detaining criminals, but after 2009, Arpaio used the facility for housing detained immigrants.

News reports said Arpaio forced inmates to wear pink underwear and often fed them expired food and undrinkable water. The tents did little to shield inmates from the Arizona desert, where temperatures rose to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) at times. Tent City stirred a national uproar.

Starting in 2006, Arpaio and Maricopa County sheriffs engaged in a pattern of “unlawful discriminatory police conduct directed at Hispanic persons,” according to U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mark Kappelhoff. During these operations, he directed deputies to detain people suspected of being undocumented immigrants without legal immigration authorization.

Arpaio’s deputies explicitly targeted Latino drivers in their traffic stops. A Department of Justice investigation concluded that Arpaio used race as a criterion for stopping and detaining Latino drivers. Legal U.S. residents and U.S. citizens were occasionally arrested in these sweeps.

Phoenix News-Times journalist Stephen Lemons, in January 2009, noted that, during operations, some Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies wore ski masks and carried assault rifles while conducting immigration sweeps.

Camp East Montana & Alligator Alcatraz

Tent City appears to be an early version of the detention facilities used by ICE today, where detainees have complained of squalid conditions and poor food.

ICE currently detains some 70,000 people in 224 detention centers nationwide.

Of those, two camps, Camp East Montana near El Paso, Texas, and Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, are eerily similar to Arpaio’s Tent City.

Camp East Montana is the most recent of these new facilities. Opened in August 2025, the 60-acre detention center has become one of the largest ICE facilities in the U.S., holding 5,000 detainees.

Like Arpaio’s Tent City, Camp East Montana was constructed with tents that offer little protection from the elements. The Washington Post reported in September that the facility’s poor food, shoddy living quarters, and exposure to the desert sun violated 60 federal regulations.

The cost of inhumane policies

During Arpaio’s tenure, his office faced 6,000 federal lawsuits.

Those included a $9 million payout to the parents of Charles Agster III, after a federal jury found Arpaio and jailhouse nurses negligent in his death. And they included a $2 million payout to the parents of Brian Crenshaw after the disabled man died following an altercation with a sheriff’s detention officer.

The most costly, though, was the 2013 ruling in Melendres v. Arpaio. U.S. District Judge Murray Snow found Arpaio guilty of racial profiling. The ruling placed Arpaio’s office under federal monitoring with orders to overhaul the department. As a result, Maricopa County residents have paid $323 million to reform the department.

Arpaio left office in January 2017. Months later, Tent City closed. After a failed attempt to run for U.S. Senate in 2018, Arpaio retired from politics.

But I believe that the resemblance between Arpaio’s fixation on immigration and Trump’s deportation campaign remains.

Since Trump’s second election, ICE and CBP agents have followed Arpaio’s playbook. Along with erecting tent jails for detaining immigrants, agents have used racial profiling during immigration raids. Consequently, hundreds of U.S. citizens have been detained during raids and protests.

On April 2, 2026, Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled that CBP agents violated court orders and “again detained people without reasonable suspicion” – tactics similar to those used by Arpaio.

Arpaio’s policies foreshadowed Trump’s deportation policy: one that uses racial profiling and shows little regard for human rights.

As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in her dissent in Noem v. Vazquez-Perdomo in 2025, many Latinos now carry proof of citizenship out of fear of racial profiling.

In July 2017, a federal court found Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt for violating a 2011 federal order to stop detaining people solely on suspicion of illegal immigration status.

A month later, before Arpaio’s sentencing, Trump pardoned Arpaio. He described the sheriff as a “great American patriot” who had “done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration.”

This analytical/opinion article is republished from the nonprofit, independent news organization The Conversation. It was written by Jonathan van Harmelen, of Oberlin College and Conservatory

Do you agree with the author’s analysis?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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Coast Guard crews and Federal Agents have been kept busy this month by human smugglers determined to bring illegal aliens to America’s shores. On Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Tezanos intercepted a dangerously overloaded small boat off the coast of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, with 21 illegal aliens aboard.

18 men and two women claimed to be from the Dominican Republic, while two men aboard said they were Haitians. One other person was found to have an active Puerto Rico Police arrest warrant and was taken into custody.

The illegal aliens were transferred to a Dominican Republic Navy vessel on Monday, April 20, 2026.

But the Coast Guard and Federal Officers have been even busier cracking down on Human Smuggling off the California Coast. On Monday, April 20, 2026, the Coast Guard Cutter Terrell Horne stopped a cabin cruiser off San Clemente Island with 18 illegal aliens, all from Mexico, aboard.

On April 18, 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Florence Finch intercepted a small “panga” boat Southwest of Point Loma Near San Nicolas Island, overloaded with 29 illegal aliens, all from Mexico, aboard.

On Friday, April 17, 2026, Federal Agents aboard US Customs & Border Protection “Coastal Interceptor Vessels” converged on yet another suspicious boat near San Clemente Island. Their suspicions were confirmed when the “fishing party” aboard the boat was found to be 13 illegal aliens instead: 7 adult males, 5 adult females, and 1 accompanied juvenile female.

On Thursday, April 9, 2026, the Coast Guard Cutter Narwhal intercepted a boat near Point Loma, California, that watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center in San Diego had identified as suspicious, and found three illegal aliens (all from Mexico) aboard.

The Daily Caller, citing US Customs & Border Protection sources, reports that some of the aliens caught trying to illegally enter California this month “had rap sheets that included DUI, felony hit-and-run, making false police reports, drug possession, active warrants for resisting arrest, trespassing, burglary, possession of burglary tools, receiving stolen property, drug trafficking, aggravated assault with a weapon, and domestic violence.”

In response to all of this human smuggling activity, the US government is deploying surveillance buoy powered by artificial intelligence, like the one pictured above, in waters along the US border with Mexico off the California coast.

These “PowerBouys” (outfitted with solar panels and wind generators) contain cameras and other surveillance devices to alert the Coast Guard and Customs & Border Protection to human smuggling boats approaching and entering US waters.

UPDATE: The installation of the first “PowerBuoy” surveillance platform near San Diego has not (yet) deterred cartel human smugglers. On Monday, April 27, 2026, the Coast Guard reported apprehending five more illegal aliens aboard a 45-foot sailing boat at the entrance to San Diego Bay.

Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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THE WEEK’S US BORDER NEWS IN BRIEF:

A major federal appeals court ruling blocking the Trump administration’s strict asylum bans, alongside ongoing legislative efforts in the Senate to fund immigration enforcement, were the primary focus of U.S. border security and immigration news during the week of April 19–25, 2026.

Asylum and Court Decisions

• Asylum Ban Blocked: A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday, April 24, 2026, that the Trump administration’s “Day 1” proclamation (issued January 20, 2025), which suspended asylum access at the southern border, was unlawful.

• Legal Reasoning & Response: The court found that existing U.S. immigration laws guarantee the right to apply for asylum and that the president cannot unilaterally override this. The administration indicated its intent to challenge this ruling, as well as another ruling requiring them to restore parole status to migrants who entered through the Biden-era CBP One program.

• Texas SB 4 Ruling: On Thursday, April 23, 2026, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court injunction, allowing Texas Senate Bill 4 to take effect. This law empowers state police to arrest individuals suspected of entering the country illegally, challenging the long-standing precedent that immigration law is solely a federal jurisdiction.

Border Security and Enforcement

• Continued Low Encounters: The Border Patrol continued to report historically low numbers of migrant encounters, with data up to early April showing the lowest numbers in decades, attributed to the severe restrictions on asylum. It is unclear how the court ruling above (should it stand) might impact that in the future.

• DHS Shutdown: The U.S. Senate advanced a $70 billion funding plan for ICE and Border Patrol through budget reconciliation on Thursday, April 23, 2026. This push occurred as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remained in a partial shutdown due to stalled negotiations over operational guardrails following controversial incidents.

Immigration Policy and Administration

• H-1B Visa Reform: House Republicans introduced the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026 on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. The bill proposes a three-year moratorium on H-1B visas, reducing the annual cap from 65,000 to 25,000, and eliminating "dual intent," which currently allows visa holders to pursue permanent residency.

• H-1B Visa Fraud: USCIS continued to focus on fraud, with guilty pleas in H-1B visa fraud cases and the announcement of prosecutions for naturalization fraud during the week.

• Visa Restrictions Continue: Meanwhile, the State Department is continuing to enforce a “pause” on permanent visas for 75 countries, which began in early 2026, affecting almost half of all immigrant visas typically issued.

• New Travel Rules as World Cup Nears: Effective Thursday, April 23, 2026, the United States has implemented significantly tightened security measures for travelers entering under the Visa Waiver Program (ESTA), driven by security preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. New travel regulations include screening five years of social media activity.

Key Trends

• “Zero Releases”: DHS has claimed 11 consecutive months of “zero releases” at the southern border, indicating all apprehended migrants were either detained or removed.

• Legal vs. Illegal Immigration: Analysts noted that while illegal border crossings were very low, the administration had also significantly reduced legal immigration channels.

FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)

• Coast Guard Seizes Cocaine Worth $28.7 Million

Through “Operation Pacific Viper”

• DHS waffles on “Warehouse Detention Centers”

One city cut off the water.

• Are US Strikes on “Narco Boats” Effective?

Smuggling routes disrupted; not destroyed

• Ex Border Town Official Busted For Drug Smuggling

10 cocaine bundles seized

PLUS:

Have you answered our reader poll yet?

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Jack Beavers

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Luis Miguel Garduño, who, as recently as late 2025, served as a Director of Public Services in the Mexican City of Matamoros (across the Rio Grande from Brownsville), was arrested on Easter Sunday (April 5, 2026), while attempting to smuggle almost 11 kilos of cocaine through a South Texas Border Patrol Checkpoint.

After a Border Patrol dog alerted agents at the Javier Vega, Jr. Checkpoint on US Highway 77 in Sarita, Texas, a search of the SUV he was driving revealed a hidden compartment beneath the third row of seats.

Inside, agents found ten bundles containing 10.92 kilograms of cocaine.

According to a criminal complaint, Garduño told Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agents that “he was directed to do the trip because of a debt that he owes (and when) asked if he knew what was in the vehicle … he advised that he believes it was drugs, but did not know what type.”

Garduño is facing federal charges of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

The case is raising eyebrows because of an arrest involving another Mexican official from the same area last year. On May 2, 2025, US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers stopped a Mexican couple attempting to drive across the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge into Mexico for a random search.

The Mexico City newspaper "El Universal" identified the woman involved in the case as an employee of the Attorney General's Office of the Mexican State of Tamaulipas.

The CBP Officers found bundles of US dollars (totaling $148,610) hidden inside the couple’s car. The driver was found to be carrying another $5,485 in cash. Officers found the woman was carrying even more money: $30,000 - again, all cash.

(It is a federal offense not to declare currency totaling $10,000 or more to a CBP officer upon entry or exit from the U.S. or to conceal it with intent to evade reporting requirements. Failure to declare may result in seizure of the currency and/or arrest. An individual may petition for the return of currency seized by CBP officers, but the petitioner must prove that the source and intended use of the currency were legitimate.)

In all, US Federal Agents seized $184,095.

Meanwhile, the ex-Matamoros city official arrested for smuggling cocaine earlier this month remains jailed in Corpus Christi awaiting trial.

How large a problem is cartel corruption of government officials along the Mexican border?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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Relevant Fact: The US Army established the “Western Hemisphere Command” (USAWHC) last December, focused on the security of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Given that US Border News is publishing more articles about news from that space (well south of our Southern Borders), here is the question I am posing to our readers and subscribers (and any other interested Substackers) in the form of a poll:

Here’s an example of stories within that space we have published this year on US Border News:

• Are US Strikes on “Narco Boats” Effective?

Smuggling routes disrupted; not destroyed

• Coast Guard Seizes Cocaine Worth $28.7 Million

Through “Operation Pacific Viper”

• 120+ Aliens Apprehended at Sea

By US Since March 1

• Venezuelan President’s Arrest Rocks Some US Border Communities

US Border News Flash Analysis

The separate publication I am considering would allow for coverage of “migrant caravans” from Central America to Mexico; Cartel Activity deeper in Mexico, well South of the US Border; and Trans-National Criminal Activity in South America & the Caribbean.

Articles from that region would give you an “early warning” about issues that might cross over the US Border in the future, while allowing US Border News to focus on events closer to home.

You would be free to subscribe to both publications or to either, depending on your interests. (Or we could keep things as they are through this single news site).

Please feel free to participate in the poll above - and share your thoughts in our comment section for this article.

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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The US attacks on suspected “narco-boats” have disrupted - but not destroyed Caribbean drug-smuggling routes from Central and South America to the US and Europe, an analysis by both InSight Crime and WOLA has determined.

(Insight Crime has a staff of about 50 investigators working across the Americas and Europe, including reporters with years of on-the-ground experience; investigators with graduate degrees in Latin America, citizen security, and conflict studies; and experts in design, translation, and data analysis.

WOLA is a leading research and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to advancing human rights, democracy, and social justice in the Americas.)

As of this month, those US military strikes have killed at least 80 people and destroyed at least 15 suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean since the US began the attacks in September of last year.

Insight Crime also notes that the disruption of those smuggling routes could be driving more cocaine trafficking from Venezuela into the Essequibo Territory of neighboring Guyana and Suriname.

Insight Crime also notes that “high-level traffickers rarely coordinate, much less pilot, the go-fast boats that transport drugs through the Caribbean. (Those involve) mid-level logistics networks contracted to move cocaine on a deal-by-deal basis. These groups recruit boat crews locally, often from local fishing communities.”

In other words, we are not killing drug kingpins, but low-level “mules” that are easily replaced. And so far, authorities in the Caribbean islands where these small boats often land aren’t seeing any evidence that the US strikes are discouraging those fishermen from making those far more lucrative drug runs.

A senior customs source in Trinidad and Tobago, speaking to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity, said that “overall flows remain steady,” adding drug shipments had been “diverted to less patrolled sea lanes, more isolated beaches, or via land transshipment points in small island nations.”

And even if the US strikes DID cut down on the number of go-fast boaters willing to risk their lives for a short smuggling run, Insight Crime notes that the drug organizations that use them can easily turn to “more discreet forms of transport, such as private yachts, which can crisscross Caribbean islands while blending in with tourism traffic.

Other alternatives to go-fast boats include fishing vessels and inter-island ferries that can hop between islands while carrying concealed cargo.”

As of Thursday, April 16, 2026, Crime Insight documented 52 strikes by the US military against suspected drug smuggling boats in both the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of more than 175 people. The map below shows the locations of those strikes.

Meanwhile, those strikes continue. Since Insight Crime published that map, the US Southern Command announced another strike of a suspected drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean on Sunday, April 19, 2026, which killed three more people the Department of Defense characterized as ”narco-terrorists.”

However, a separate analysis by WOLA.org could find “no apparent impact” on the amount of cocaine being seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) since those boat strikes began:

And, in another sign that the risk of attacks is not discouraging operators of these “go-fast” boats from making those financially lucrative smuggling runs, authorities in the Dominican Republic report the recent seizure of 1.6 tons of cocaine aboard a 32-foot boat equipped with twin 250-horsepower outboard engines, multiple fuel tanks, and advanced communication technology smugglers abandoned on a beach there after fleeing a brief firefight with law-enforcement officers.

And, Costa Rica, this week, announced the seizure of a “go-fast” boat carrying 1,901 packages of cocaine along with the arrests of three smugglers.

Should the US continue to attack small smuggling boats in the Caribbean & Eastern Pacific?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this story!

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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Some of the Trump administration’s controversial new warehouse immigration detention centers are getting scaled back and postponed as states and cities fight back, and new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin reviews actions taken by his ousted predecessor, Kristi Noem.

Some states and cities have seen more communication and compromise as Mullin takes over, and the Department of Homeland Security faces a continued funding shutdown that has reached 60 days.

That includes discussions about a proposed Arizona detention center, where DHS agreed to scale back the number of prisoners by two-thirds and pay a city for lost tax revenue, and a proposed center in Maryland with a similar offer from the department. A lawsuit is also holding up work on that detention center. And in Georgia, a small city cut off the water supply to a proposed immigrant holding site.

A plan to house up to 1,500 immigrants in Surprise, Arizona, starting as soon as May, was scaled back to 542 detainees starting in October at the earliest, and DHS agreed to pay the city $300,000 a year for lost property taxes. The department may also offer more to help cover any police costs after negotiations with DHS under Mullin.

“With the new leadership, there’s been a lot of communication,” Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor told a local radio show April 15, a contrast to the “very frustrating” experience of how the city learned from news reports in January that DHS had purchased a 418,000-square-foot distribution center for $70 million.

“We do have a different leadership style,” Mullin said in a CNBC interview April 16, comparing himself to Noem. “We want to make sure people understand that we’re here working for the people, not against you.”

In Maryland, the new DHS administration has also offered a scale-back from 1,500 detainees to 542, in a Williamsport warehouse bought for $102 million in January. An April 15 court order keeps most work at the center paused as the state continues a lawsuit claiming “impacts on the environmental, economic, and public health and safety interests of the state.”

In Arizona, dozens of Democratic state lawmakers sent a letter in April asking the city of Surprise to “stop the facility from opening at all costs,” but Mayor Sartor has said he doesn’t see a legal basis for a lawsuit. The mayor’s office is nonpartisan, but Republicans predominate among registered voters in the city by almost 2-1 over Democrats.

Communities across the country are facing the results of a massive detention expansion fueled in large part by the record $45 billion approved for increased immigration detention by Congress last summer.

Other state and local action on the plan to repurpose warehouses for detention centers includes a Kansas City, Missouri, ban on nonmunicipal detention facilities passed in January, and developers halted the sale of a south Kansas City warehouse in February.

The owners of an Indiana warehouse sent a letter stating they weren’t in active negotiations for the site, which had been reported as a potential detention center and had drawn local opposition from the town of Merrillville. Democratic lawmakers in Florida opposed plans for a warehouse detention center near Orlando in February, while some Republican lawmakers supported it.

In Georgia, the city of Social Circle cut off water and sewer service for a $128.6 million warehouse proposed to hold 10,000 detainees, saying the town of 5,000 people lacked the capacity to serve it.

“The city’s infrastructure cannot accommodate this level of demand,” according to a February statement from the city, despite a “certainly creative” solution suggested by DHS to fill a water-supply cistern at times of low demand.

Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org.

Do you support the conversion of warehouses into “immigration detention facilities”?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa offloaded 3,825 pounds of cocaine worth more than $28.7 million on Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Miami. The seized contraband resulted from two interdictions of drug-smuggling boats in the international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean through “Operation Pacific Viper.”

Operation Pacific Viper is a counter-drug operation in the Eastern Pacific, a primary corridor for narcotics smuggling from Central and South America. The Coast Guard has surged cutters, aircraft, and tactical teams to interdict, seize, and disrupt the flow of cocaine and other illicit drugs

Recent operations highlighted the impact of “Operation Pacific Viper”, including record-setting interdictions. In February, the Coast Guard marked a significant achievement by seizing 200,000 pounds of cocaine, underscoring the sustained effectiveness of Operation Pacific Viper. Since launching this operation in early August, the Coast Guard has seized over 215,000 pounds of cocaine and apprehended 160 suspected narco-traffickers.

Through “Operation Pacific Viper, the US Coast Guard targets Mexican, Central & South American Cartels, cutting off drug and human smugglers before they reach the US West Coast.” 80% of interdictions of U.S.-bound drugs occur at sea.

Do you think “Operation Pacific Viper” is inflicting heavy damage to cartel cocaine smuggling operations?

Share your thoughts in the comments to this article.

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

Key developments in immigration and border security news during the past week included legislative action on Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants, and the resignation of the Director of ICE, as the numbers of those illegally crossing the border continue to drop.

Border Enforcement & Migrant Data

• Historic Lows in Migrant Encounters: As of April 17, data indicated that migrant apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border are on track to make 2026 the lowest year for encounters since 1967 (the chart below shows the dramatic drop):

  

• Family Apprehensions Plunge: The current immigration crackdown has led to a significant change in the demographic of migrant arrivals, with families and children making up the smallest proportion of apprehended individuals since 2012, as the ability to seek asylum at the border has been largely eliminated.

  

• Spring Surge Coming?: Despite lower migrant numbers, five Border Patrol Sectors, including Del Rio and Tucson, reported significant (over 25%) increases in border-wide apprehensions from February to March, suggesting a potential spring uptick.

• Venezuelan Deportations Continue: The most recent deportation flight to Venezuela, on April 15, 2026, had 316 people aboard. Since the Trump administration began, it has sent over 20,000 people to Caracas.

• San Ysidro Drug Seizure: On April 16, CBP officers at the San Ysidro, California, Port of Entry seized over 60 pounds of cocaine, valued at more than $1.15 million, from a “trusted traveler”.

• Hidalgo Drug Seizure: CBP continued high-volume drug seizures, including over $1 million in cocaine found hidden in the seats of a passenger bus at the Hidalgo, Texas, International Bridge.

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Resignation & Legislation

• Resignation Amid Shutdown: The ICE director resigned during a long-running, partial DHS funding shutdown, which has left thousands of personnel without pay while continuing enforcement operations.

• Haitian TPS Legislation: On April 16, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1689, which requires the DHS Secretary to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) through at least April 2029, despite opposition from the Republican majority leadership.

• Visa Updates: The April 2026 Visa Bulletin was released, showing forward movement in certain employment-based categories, yet with significantly tighter scrutiny on vetting and interview processes, including social media checks.

FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)

• US: Casino Near Texas Border is a Cartel Front

Americans warned to stay away

• ICE’d Out?

Embattled Agency Director Resigns

• Many migrants sent to “Blue Cities” have returned to US Border States

Following earlier Border Surge

I am committed to delivering a weekly newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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Todd Lyons’ career at US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) was on an upward trajectory from the time he joined the agency as an Immigration Enforcement Agent in Dallas in 2007 through March 9, 2025, when he was named Acting Director of the agency by President Trump.

Unfortunately (for him), his career ascent coincided with Stephen Miller, Corey Lewandowski, and Kristi Noem’s co-option of his agency.

Although President Trump promised to arrest “the worst of the worst” during the campaign, once in office, Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and (then) Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and her “Chief of Staff” Corey Lewandowski, demanded that ICE should instead generate arrests of 3,000 people a day, no matter if they had no criminal records (other than immigration violations) with controversial Border Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino named as “Commander at Large” of their enforcement efforts.

A series of well-publicized raids directed against “blue” (Democratic) cities followed, resulting in the controversial shooting deaths of ICE protestors Rene Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

As a result, immigration (which had once been one of President Trump’s strengths in national polls) quickly shifted to a liability.

ICE Director Lyons efforts to rein in Bovino resulted in an email from Bovino stating, "Mr. Lyons said he was in charge, and I corrected him, saying I report to Corey Lewandowski."

Miller’s 10 AM daily conference calls with ICE officials are famous for destroying morale among ICE leaders:

“Miller came in there and eviscerated everyone. ‘You guys aren’t doing a good job. You’re horrible leaders.’

“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” Forbes News reported the official recited.

As a result, in March 2026, Politico reported that Lyons was hospitalized in late 2025/early 2026 due to stress, with sources attributing this to the aggressive demands from Miller.

Which brings us where we are today. ICE Director Lyons will resign on May 31, 2026. He says he wants to spend more time with his family, particularly his sons.

Senator Markwayne Mullin is now the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and Gregory Bovino are gone (and soon, Todd Lyons will be as well). Stephen Miller remains in his position, free to continue to press his aggressive enforcement agenda.

However, The Wall Street Journal reported last month that President Trump wants to “lower the profile of his mass deportation effort.”

They said he wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are “bad guys,” not noncriminal undocumented residents. He wants less visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which, he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a liability for the midterms, per the report. If Trump sides with her on politics, it would be a sign of political panic and a rebuke to Miller, but we appear to be somewhere in between those two extremes at the moment.

However, this is decided, ICE Director Todd Lyons isn’t sticking around to see how it plays out.

Do you support Stephen Miller’s demands for 3,000 daily immigration arrests or Susie Wiles’ focus on migrants with previous criminal arrests?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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The millions of migrants who were released into the country during the immigration surge that began in 2021 and peaked in 2023 caused a political firestorm when Republican states transported them to Democratic cities. Now, according to a new analysis, many of them are back working in the states that expelled them.

Many of the migrants turned themselves in to immigration officials when they entered the United States illegally, but avoided immediate removal by claiming a “credible fear” of persecution or torture if they returned home, giving them the right to seek asylum. It can take years to receive an asylum hearing. Others seeking asylum arrived with appointments made through a government app or relied on temporary parole programs while pursuing legal status in court.

Now, amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, these migrants are under increasing pressure, threatened with arrest and detention even when they appear for their court dates. Currently, they can begin to work legally after waiting six months, but the Trump administration is seeking to extend the waiting period to one year.

A Stateline analysis of court records shows that the largest numbers of recent asylum-seekers are in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Utah, all of which have populations that are at least 1% higher than they were in 2020 because of the new migrants. Also in the top 10: Texas, Connecticut, California, Illinois, and Colorado. Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Abbott in Texas led the charge to transport migrants out of state. Stateline’s analysis counts only those migrants who are not being detained.

The country that is the single largest source of recent asylum-seeking migrants is Venezuela, with 363,000 as of February. The next largest is Mexico (251,000), followed by Guatemala (241,000), Honduras (240,000), and Colombia (235,000). But those nationwide numbers are scrambled in individual states: Ecuadorians predominate in five states, Nicaraguans in four, and Brazilians and Cubans in three each.

The influx of migrants that began escalating when President Joe Biden loosened immigration rules in January 2021 generated a political backlash that intensified after DeSantis and Abbott began busing and flying border migrants to Democratic-led cities, putting a significant strain on their finances. New York City, for example, spent a total of $8.13 billion on shelter and services for the more than 223,000 asylum-seekers and other migrants who arrived between the spring of 2022 and the fall of 2024.

Meanwhile, some established immigrant communities resented what they saw as lenient treatment of the newcomers.

Local news accounts reported anger over competition for jobs in Latino communities in New York City. But Ernesto Castañeda, director of American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, said interviews there showed more resentment over the aid that was offered to the new arrivals.

“For the first time in U.S. history, there were many big programs to temporarily house and feed the newcomers,” Castañeda said. “People (in New York City) talked about the food cards they got, or the free meals, or the hotel rooms, and that took a lot of the media attention locally.”

But many of the new immigrants also have provided much-needed labor, from the streets of New York City and its suburbs to the dairy farms of Idaho.

“All we can do is just work and hope for the best,” said a woman from Ecuador, who asked to be identified only as Rosa. Rosa works in a family food service business in suburban Spring Valley, New York, one of the top five areas in the country for the sheer number of migrants, with most coming from Ecuador, according to court records.

“It’s hard here, but in Ecuador it’s worse — there are gangs blackmailing you,” said another woman who works in a Queens store labeling packets of Ecuadorian herbs. She declined to identify herself.

In suburbs as well as cities, the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda has immigrants worried. About 22% of the newcomers around the country, in and out of detention, have orders of removal from immigration courts, meaning they could be arrested and summarily deported at any time.

“There were a lot of arrests right around here. People who did everything right got detained,” Rosa said in Spanish, glancing around nervously as she worked making traditional Ecuadorian dishes like corviches, fish fritters, and a fish and onion soup called encebollado.

Many of the new arrivals have stopped socializing and stay home when they’re not working, afraid to be caught up in raids that have swept thousands of them up into detention, according to interviews conducted in New York and the District of Columbia by the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies.

Even when much-hated Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro was arrested in January and removed to the United States for trial, many Venezuelan asylum-seekers stayed home rather than risk being arrested at public celebrations (like the one in Florida pictured below).

Ecuadorians got less media attention than Venezuelans because they came to a more established community in New York, Castañeda said.

“(Ecuadorians) already had networks, so they were not staying in shelters. They were not in the streets,” he said. “They could work, and they were becoming part of the fabric of New York, but now they’re being deported by Trump because ICE knows who they are, where they live, and their status is very easy pickings. They’re low-hanging fruit.”

Many Venezuelans would like to go home but face even more chaos after the fall of Maduro, said Héctor Arguinzones, organizer of a Venezuelan immigrant group in New York City.

“Many of us fled Venezuela because our own neighbors were our persecutors,” said Arguinzones. “We’re not trying to, you know, sneak into the United States. A lot of us want to go back. We are full of hope. But we cannot think that this crisis in Venezuela will be solved in three months. We must be patient. What we really need is humanitarian treatment.”

Texas has ended up with the largest number of Venezuelans, an irony noted in a book written by the American University research team. After initially receiving aid in more sympathetic areas such as Colorado, New York City, and Washington, D.C., many of the Venezuelans traveled around the country looking for work, but trickled back to Texas, where jobs were available, and the cost of living was lower.

(Editor’s Note: For more perspectives about Venezuelan ties to Texas, we recommend reading our January 2026 article “Venezuelan President’s Arrest Rocks Some US Border Communities”).

Living in the U.S. with an immigration court date is a tenuous existence for people fleeing gangs and political oppression in South America and Central America. Fear of returning to a home country can be a valid legal reason to avoid deportation, but it requires legal help and doesn’t prevent detention and pressure to “self-deport.”

“Unfortunately, having an asylum case is not a legal status.”

– Héctor Arguinzones, organizer of a Venezuelan immigrant group

“We tell people to keep with their court cases and keep the paperwork with them, so at least they have something to show. At least it is something,” Arguinzones said.

Robin Nice, a Boston attorney, said six of her clients with pending asylum cases were detained in a January sweep called Operation Catch of the Day, and only one had had a brush with the law in the form of a year-old traffic case.

“They were typically on their way to or from work, sometimes just getting into their car after finishing a shift,” Nice said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in an unattributed statement to Stateline, said: “A pending asylum case does NOT confer any type of legal status in the United States. If a person enters our country illegally, they are subject to detention or deportation.”

Some of the asylum-seekers pursuing legal status through the courts have already been detained, but they make up a small fraction of the 2.8 million total cases.

Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org.

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Jack Beavers

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The US government says a casino operating just across the border from Laredo and advertises in the US to draw in Americans is one of two casinos in Tamaulipas state “operated by Cartel del Noreste (CDN), one of Mexico’s most violent drug trafficking organizations.”

“Casino Centenario,” located just two miles across the border from Laredo, and “Diamante Casino” in Tampico, Mexico, have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, which prohibits transactions (like bets) between the casinos & U.S. citizens.

The Nuevo Laredo casino regularly advertises in the U.S. to lure American gamblers to make the short drive across the border to place bets there. It buys space on US billboards and has participated in the “Business Expo Laredo” to drum up traffic from Texas.

“Casino Centenario is utilized by CDN as a stash house for fentanyl pills and cocaine, as well as a vehicle to launder illicit proceeds and integrate them into the legitimate financial system through its gaming operations. CDN also uses the backrooms of Casino Centenario to torture and intimidate alleged enemies of the cartel. Many CDN members also frequent Casino Centenario.” -US Treasury Dept. News Release

The Treasury Department says “CDN, previously known as Los Zetas, was identified by the United States as a specially designated foreign narcotics trafficker on April 15, 2009, pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act). On February 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of State designated CDN as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).”

“CDN is primarily based in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon. For decades, CDN has been involved in the trafficking of narcotics and other illicit drugs, including fentanyl, crystal methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. CDN is involved in violent criminal activity on both sides of the border, including the kidnapping and killing of individuals that threaten their criminal enterprise on the southern border. With a stronghold in Nuevo Laredo, CDN uses its terror-fueled influence in the region to control drug trafficking and human smuggling routes, bribe politicians and journalists, and extort local businesses and shipments flowing to and from the United States at the busiest inland point of entry for trade in the United States.” -US Treasury Department News Release

The sanctions preventing U.S. citizens from transacting with the Nuevo Laredo casino also apply to “Diamante Casino,” 300 miles further south of the border.

Three Mexican citizens (including one now in US custody) have also been sanctioned by the Treasury Department.

UPDATE: The Mexican Government has since announced that they have closed the Nuevo Laredo & Tampico casinos that the US Treasury Department linked to the CDN:

This isn’t the first time the US has targeted Mexican Casinos with suspected ties to a Mexican cartel. Last year, the US government issued sanctions against ten other casinos in four Mexican states, accused of money laundering for the Sinaloa Cartel.

Would you visit a casino in Mexico?

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Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

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The week of April 5 through April 12, 2026, in U.S. border security and immigration news was marked by a not-so-veiled threat to “sanctuary cities,” an 11th consecutive month of “zero releases” at the border, and some major cases involving immigration fraud.

Enforcement News:

The newly installed DHS leader makes headlines; the administration highlights record-low migration numbers; and targeted immigration enforcement actions continue.

• “Sanctuary City” Customs Shutdown? The new leader of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is threatening to halt customs operations at airports in cities that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

• Large Drug Bust: The DHS this week announced that the U.S. Coast Guard seized 4,510 pounds of cocaine, valued at $33.9 million, during a recent patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

• VOICE Office Anniversary: Marking the one-year anniversary of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office reopening, ICE conducted a nationwide sweep targeting non-citizens with convictions for violent crimes, including assault and child abuse.

• Regional Statistics: In the New Mexico sector, federal prosecutors brought 198 criminal charges this week, including 106 for illegal reentry and 87 arising from violations at a newly established National Defense Area.

• “Zero Release” Streak: On April 9, the DHS and CBP announced an 11th consecutive month of “zero releases” at the border, claiming that daily apprehensions remain 95% below previous historic averages.

Immigration Fraud Cases & Visa Policy Updates:

• Fraud Cases: USCIS reported high-profile immigration fraud cases on April 10, including a man arrested in Los Angeles for visa fraud and a war criminal sentenced in Connecticut for naturalization fraud.

• April Visa Bulletin: The State Department’s April 2026 bulletin showed “broad forward movement,” particularly in family-based categories (F2A) and certain employment-based (EB-4) preferences.

FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)

120+ Aliens Apprehended at Sea

By US Since March 1

US Military Task Force Helps Secure Southern Border

Here’s what they’ve done in a year

Human Smugglers Use Semis Despite Dangers

Deadly results don’t deter them

I am committed to delivering a weekly newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.

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Cartel human smugglers continue to use semi trucks and trailers to smuggle illegal aliens across the U.S. border despite numerous deadly or near-deadly results. The latest incident was reported by Border Patrol Agents on Thursday, April 9, 2026, at a South Texas checkpoint.

A K9 alerted the agents to the presence of 26 illegal aliens locked inside the trailer of a semi truck attempting to pass through the Falfurrias checkpoint on US Highway 281. Despite no ventilation (and no way out), agents report that those trapped inside the trailer were in good condition. The truck driver - a US citizen - is facing federal charges.

There is no shortage of examples of how this could have turned out badly.

On Monday, March 23, 2026, Mexican authorities narrowly prevented a mass-casualty incident involving migrants from Central and South America being smuggled to the US Border from occurring in the state of Veracruz.

Officers who forced the locks open on the trailer a smuggler had locked them inside were stunned to discover 229 people - ranging in age from elderly to young children - inside. Some had to be treated by emergency medical personnel for dehydration.

Other human smuggling schemes from Mexico into the United States by semi trucks have ended with deadly results.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, Daniel Zavala Ramos pleaded guilty in a Laredo, Texas, federal court to conspiring to smuggle a semi-trailer filled with migrants to the US that crashed in Chiapas, Mexico, on December 9, 2021, killing more than 50 and injuring over 100 more. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison.

This is far from an isolated incident.

In 2022, 53 migrants were found dead in and around a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas. Their deaths were caused by heat exposure and asphyxiation during the searing South Texas summer heat.

A similar incident occurred in San Antonio on July 23, 2017, when 39 migrants were found in a tractor-trailer in a parking lot. Ten of them died, and 29 were injured.

But for many human smugglers, the dangers of deadly outcomes are overcome by greed, because the cartels can pay per migrant to transport loads of illegal aliens into the U.S. Last month, for example, Laredo Border Patrol Agents discovered nine illegal aliens inside a semi-truck, some locked inside tool compartments:

The Border Patrol says the driver already had a warrant for failure to appear in court to answer an earlier alien smuggling charge and now faces a felony alien smuggling charge after his second arrest.

Also, last month, US Border Patrol Agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of South Texas reported discovering yet another group of 29 illegal aliens locked inside a trailer driven by another cartel human smuggler.

Should federal laws require stiffer sentences to deter this dangerous method of human smuggling into the US from Mexico?

Share your thoughts about them in the comments to this story!

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The US military’s Joint Task Force–Southern Border (JTF-SB) has expanded detection and monitoring, improved data sharing, and enabled its U.S. law enforcement partners to increase apprehension rates along the 1,954 miles of U.S.-Mexico border to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) there.

Key Task Force accomplishments include:

• JTF-SB has assisted DHS in achieving historically low levels of individuals attempting to illegally cross our southern border.

• Approximately 22,000 enhanced detection and monitoring missions were conducted, enabling greater awareness of illegal crossings from Mexico into the United States. Of these, almost 3,000 were joint patrols alongside U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, and over 800 were mirrored patrols on both sides of the southern border with CBP and the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense.

• More than 84,000 security site missions were conducted, providing continuous detection and monitoring across key areas of the southern border. These missions leveraged advanced sensor‑borne technology, including fixed and mobile ground sensors and long‑range systems, to deliver greater situational awareness.

• Aviation members have executed nearly 1,600 aerial observation flight missions and 220 unmanned aerial missions, monitoring areas of interest and providing overwatch for personnel on the ground.

  

• Nearly 6,000 signs and 2,000 buoys have been installed along 656 miles of the southern border to clearly demarcate the five recently created National Defense Areas.

• Over 51,000 rolls of concertina wire have been placed in key areas at the direction of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). These border barriers are the largest in U.S. history, and deter and deny illegal crossings.

  

  As the Joint Task Force–Southern Border enters its second year, the task force is focused on further strengthening security along the US Southern Border with Mexico:

  “Our mission continues, and our commitment is unwavering. We will keep evolving, supporting our partners and protecting the American people.” Major General David Gardner, Task Force Commander

  Were you aware of this Task Force before you read this story?

  Share your thoughts about them in the comments to this story!

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The Coast Guard has been kept busy by a steady stream of migrants being brought illegally by cartel human smugglers into US waters since March. More than 120 of them have been apprehended before they could reach US shores.

Most of this illegal activity has occurred off the West Coast in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Here’s a rundown of these smuggling attempts as reported by the US Coast Guard :

• Friday, March 27, 2026:

15 illegal aliens (from Mexico) were apprehended 16 miles offshore of San Diego aboard a 30-foot cabin cruiser whose captain tried, but failed, to outrun a Coast Guard cutter at 4:09 AM.

• Thursday, March 26, 2026:

6 illegal aliens (from Mexico) aboard two boats were intercepted by the crew of a Coast Guard cutter shortly after they illegally crossed into US waters. One of the vessels attempted to return to Mexico, but the Coast Guard shot out its engines at 4:38 PM.

• Wednesday, March 25, 2026:

8 illegal aliens (from Mexico) were apprehended by the US Coast Guard, who stopped the boat they were aboard three miles off San Diego at 8:04 AM.

12 more illegal aliens (from Mexico) were intercepted off San Diego by the US Coast Guard, who had to open fire on the boat’s engines before stopping it at 6:09 AM.

• Sunday, March 15, 2026:

11 illegal aliens (from Mexico) were taken into custody by the US Coast Guard 7 miles west of Imperial Beach, California, after the boat they were aboard was detected illegally entering US waters from Mexico at 12:57 PM.

• Sunday, March 1, 2026:

14 illegal aliens (from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico) were interdicted aboard a small “panga” boat by the US Coast Guard 10 miles southwest of Point Loma, San Diego, around midnight.

66 aliens were taken into custody by the US Coast Guard during those six interrupted human smuggling runs in March, 2026. (NOTE: These recent sea smuggling runs off California continue a trend we last reported on early last month).

And, while the cartels tend to keep their “loads” of illegal aliens paying to be smuggled into the US via the Pacific Ocean off California relatively small, it’s a different story for the human smugglers in the US waters of the Caribbean Sea off Puerto Rico.

On March 1, 2026, the US Coast Guard announced it apprehended 60 illegal aliens from Haiti and the Dominican Republic aboard a human smuggler’s “makeshift” boat in Mona Passage waters northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. After taking control of the smuggling boat, the Coast Guard transferred the aliens to the Dominican Republic Navy for return to their countries.

“To those thinking of taking part in an unlawful migration voyage, don’t take to the sea! These voyages most often involve unseaworthy, grossly overloaded, makeshift vessels with no lifesaving equipment. They are highly unstable and could capsize without warning, killing everyone onboard.” Matthew Romano, Commander, US Coast Guard Sector San Juan

Are you surprised by the extent of human smuggling in US waters?

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Jack Beavers

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During the week of March 29 to April 4, 2026, U.S. border security and immigration news includes a leadership transition at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), escalating legal challenges over enforcement tactics, and arguments about birthright citizenship before the US Supreme Court.

Policy & Legislative Developments

• DHS Leadership Change: The Senate Homeland Security Committee approved Senator Markwayne Mullin to succeed Kristi Noem as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Mullin immediately paused a $38 billion plan to build a network of “giant warehouses” for migrant detention to re-evaluate the strategy.

• DHS Shutdown & Funding: A partial shutdown of DHS continued as legislators remained stalemated over 2026 funding. While ICE and CBP remain funded, Democratic demands for human rights reforms have stalled broader agency appropriations.

• Supreme Court Action: On April 1, the Supreme Court appeared skeptical during arguments regarding the administration’s push to end automatic birthright citizenship.

Border Security Developments

• Interdiction Successes: Federal agents at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry and Pharr International Bridge seized millions of dollars in narcotics, including over 237 pounds of methamphetamine on March 29 alone.

• Mount Cristo Rey Blasting: Construction crews began blasting terrain on the south side of Mount Cristo Rey in New Mexico to prepare for new border wall sections.

Legal & Human Rights Oversight

• Court Order Violation: A federal judge in California ruled on April 2 that Border Patrol agents violated a previous order by continuing to perform warrantless arrests without reasonable suspicion, often targeting individuals based on broad racial assumptions.

• ICE Detention Deaths: Reports confirmed that 14 individuals have died in ICE custody so far in 2026, a sharp increase that has fueled calls for greater accountability.

• Arrest Data Contradictions: Newly unsealed ICE data suggests that 63% of arrests made during recent operations in Minnesota involved individuals with no criminal convictions, contradicting previous claims that enforcement was targeting “dangerous criminal aliens.”

FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)

• TSA Paid; Airport Delays Disappearing

Following Trump’s Executive Order

• 26 Illegal Aliens Rescued from Locked Trailer

In South Texas

• Border Smuggling Still Booming

Despite tightened border security

I am committed to delivering a US Border Newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.

(How am I doing? Let me know in the comments!)

Abrazos,

Jack Beavers

Add us a preferred Google source!