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The State of Texas has claimed ownership of nine more “no man’s land” islands on the Rio Grande border with Mexico to prevent their use as staging areas by cartel smugglers. This action mirrors a similar claim Texas made three years ago to “Fronton Island” off Starr County, which was such a hotbed of illegal activity that some referred to it as “Cartel Island.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) documented the cartel activity on the island ten months before the state seized it through hidden cameras that recorded images of armed cartel smugglers moving through the cover of thick carizzo cane there.
A year later, the Border Patrol photographed rifles that cartel gunmen threw into the Rio Grande off Fronton Island as they fled into Mexico from U.S. agents pursuing them on the Texas side of the river.
After Texas laid claim to that island, the state stripped it of the vegetation that had provided cover to cartel members and ringed it with razor wire to deny them easy access to their former sanctuary.
The nine islands near Laredo that the state is claiming ownership of this month are much smaller than the 170-acre Fronton Island (the largest is just under 22 acres). Together, they cover about 66 acres.
Texas Land Commissioner Dr. Dawn Buckingham says the nine islands were among 28 “previously considered unclaimed” Rio Grande Islands that U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) asked Texas to determine if any were state land. To establish ownership, officials had to examine historical records and surveys carefully.
The aerial image of the 12.5-acre Zachary Island (see above photo), which Texas now claims as state land, shows the challenges the Texas General Land Office faced (and offers clues about why the state is claiming only 9 of the 28 islands CBP inquired about).
Although Texas documented that the International Boundary between the U.S. and Mexico was offshore of Zachary Island, the photo also shows the boundary line running through a smaller, unnamed island. The western side of that island is in Mexico; the eastern side is in the U.S.
There were likely other instances like that involving the 19 other islands that Texas was asked to examine.
On October 26, 2026, Commissioner Buckingham sent letters to both the Texas Military Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety informing them that the state was claiming the islands and authorized them to access them “for the purpose of maintaining operational security of our southern border.”
She also noted that “while we have not been alerted to criminal activity on these additional nine islands, previous experience has demonstrated the exploitation of border islands by cartels and smugglers.”
What are your thoughts about Texas claiming more islands along the Rio Grande border with Mexico?
Share your opinion in the comments to this article.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
