A confrontation between US Border Patrol Agents and cartel smugglers moving drugs across the Rio Grande into Texas turned deadly Thursday.
(The official statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety, whose Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting, can be seen below.)
Newsnation’s Ali Bradley reports that sources told her that the smugglers were moving drugs across the Rio Grande from Mexico when Border Patrol Agents confronted them on the Texas side of the river.
Bill Melugin of Fox News reports that “multiple border law enforcement sources” told him the smuggler was shot and killed by the Border Patrol after he assaulted one of their agents (this account was also confirmed by a Starr County Sheriff’s Office statement that “U.S. Border Patrol agents were involved in a struggle prior to the shooting”).
Melugin says his sources report that the agent “is okay.”
The shooting occurred in Starr County, Texas, which is a known hot spot for Mexican Cartel drug smuggling operations, and is a dangerous place to be a US law enforcement officer.
On January 27, 2025, the Texas Department of Public Safety reinforced Border Patrol Agents who were fired upon from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande in Starr County by cartel gunmen, not far from where Thursday’s fatal shooting occurred:
The cartel smugglers are also increasingly willing to fight Border Patrol Officers when caught in the act in South Texas rather than surrendering.
Chief Border Patrol Agent Michael Banks reports the arrest of a cartel human smuggler who assaulted one of his agents upriver from Starr County when he was caught smuggling four illegal aliens across the Rio Grande in Laredo.
Is enough being done to combat cartel smuggling operations along the border?
Share your opinion in the comments to this article!
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Thank the Lord that no BC men were injured. Jack there's so much money in drug smuggling that it seems worth it to the Cartels. I'm sure that some are making it through. Dangerous for all involved. Thank you!