Texas-Mexico Border: Cartel Leader Arrest Sparks Gunfights & Warnings to US Citizens
Cartel gunmen have also fired across Rio Grande on US Border Patrol Agents
There’s more reason for concern about the deteriorating security situation along the Texas-Mexico Border.
Violence broke out just across the border from Laredo, Texas, in its sister city of Nuevo Laredo after the Mexican military arrested a regional leader of the Northeast Cartel (CDN) there on Monday, February 3, 2025.
The US Consulate General in Nuevo Laredo issued a "shelter in place" security alert to all US personnel there for a time on Monday due to "reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city."
The State Department has warned US residents against travel into the Mexican State of Tamaulipas, in which Nuevo Laredo is located, since late last month after the cartels began planting roadside bombs as well as engaging in "frequent gun battles" there.
On Thursday, January 23, 2025, a cartel IED destroyed a Government of Mexico (Conagua) vehicle in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, (which is across the river from Donna, Texas), injuring the driver, according to the US State Department:
Breitbart News on Sunday, February 2, 2025 -reported that "Mexican law enforcement sources" - confirmed numerous unofficial reports that began circulating in Mexico that a Brownsville, Texas resident was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by a Mexican Cartel exploded under his truck (which bore Texas license plates) on a roadway in Tamaulipas.
The fatal incident was also reported by Official Tamaulipas State Media accounts (which say two men were killed in the blast and a woman was injured) - but there has been no mention of the nationality of the victims.
The bombing occurred in San Fernando, Tamaulipas - one of the areas the US State Department specifically mentioned in its warnings about cartel violence in that Mexican state.
Adding to the concerns about violence along this section of the Texas-Mexico border: Mexican Cartel gunmen in Tamaulipas opened fire across the Rio Grande on US Border Patrol Agents in Starr County, Texas, on January 27, 2025.
The cartel was attempting to move migrants from Mexico across the river when Border Patrol Agents arrived to block them from the U.S. side. The resulting shoot-out followed reports the cartels put a "green light" to fire on U.S. federal law enforcement in retaliation for Trump's border crackdown.
No one was injured in the shoot-out, during which cartel gunmen also attempted to shoot down a Texas Department of Public Safety drone.
The map below shows the area to which US residents are warned against travel:
The "Do Not Travel" advisory for US residents entering Tamaulipas covers all International Border Crossings from Laredo southward along the Rio Grande to Brownsville.
The worsening border security situation (combined with the threat of US tariffs) has led to the President of Mexico agreeing to send 10,000 Mexican National Guardsmen (like those shown below) to their Northern Border with the United States.
Are you concerned about cartel violence in Mexico spilling across the border into the United States?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
concerned no. angry yes. fully support protecting our border
We must be doing something right if the cartels are upset!