More than $345,000 in cash has been confiscated this month by US authorities near the US Southern Border (likely profits from drug sales north of the border being returned to Mexican Cartels), and a former US Congressman, along with a civil liberties organization, is criticizing it.
More on that a bit later in this article; let’s begin by looking at the recent cash seizures themselves:
The latest seizure occurred on November 18, 2025, when US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Agents on Brownsville’s Gateway International Bridge found $70,749 in unreported cash inside a Mexico-bound motorist’s car.
A day earlier, just north of that bridge, Special Agents of the Kleberg County Attorney’s Specialized Crimes and Narcotics Task Force stopped a southbound vehicle from Georgia with Mexican plates occupied by three Mexican citizens and discovered $164,530 in cash inside a hidden compartment. The Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector Intelligence Unit (SIU) linked the cash to a Mexican Cartel.
And last week, US Border Agents reported the seizure of almost $110,000 in cartel cash in the New Orleans Sector.
Those three seizures alone amount to $345,279 in profits that won’t reach Mexican Cartels.
So who would complain about that?
Civil Libertarians - including ex-congressman Justin Amish - who criticized this week’s seizure of $70,000 at Brownsville’s Gateway International Bridge (which led this article) on x.com:
“Carrying U.S. currency isn’t a crime, but it’s possible we’ll steal it from you, and then we’ll flip the burden so that you have to prove it wasn’t connected to criminality.”
This is simply legalized theft.
Uphold the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
End civil asset forfeiture.”
Amash isn’t alone.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has opposed these forfeitures for at least 15 years, arguing that they encourage “policing for profit.”
However, it’s important to note that seizures can be overturned in court if those carrying the cash can prove it is legally obtained, which may be the case involving $200,000 in gold seized last week at the US-Canadian border.
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The US citizen carrying the undeclared gold told CBP Agents it had been removed from a dead relative’s lockbox. According to CBP Detroit Director Marty Raybon, the government is waiting for proof of ownership:
Interestingly, a Washington Post investigation found that only one in six cash confiscations is challenged in court, reinforcing the presumption that these are ill-gotten gains (and, in the case of cash seized along the US Southern Border, are profits from cartel drug sales).
Do you support the confiscation of suspected cartel cash along the US Southern Border?
Share your thoughts in the comments to this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
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Yes Jack, I'm always on the side of law enforcement. Sadly it sounds like some sales were made. Drugs for cash. Thank you Jack for keeping us Patriots informed.
Happy thanksgiving you all