Texas is seeing an increase in cartel human smuggling activity in the 2026 Fiscal Year, which began in October. The Lone Star State leads all states in illegal alien arrests along the Southern Border with Mexico, with the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector outpacing all other sectors with around 3,200 apprehensions.
Here’s a look at some of the cartel activity behind those numbers:
STASH HOUSES
On December 19, 2025, 24 illegal aliens were found inside a cartel “stash house” in the Rio Grande Valley, raided by Border Patrol Agents and Hidalgo County Sheriff's Deputies. Those arrested were from more than a half-dozen countries, including:
China
Cuba
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Mexico
The cartel stash house raid by those agencies followed an earlier raid that found 43 illegal aliens crammed into a small mobile home.
DANGEROUS HIGH SPEED CHASES
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Highway Patrol Officers have been involved in numerous high-speed chases of cartel human smugglers, which often end with the smuggler “wrecking out.” These incidents endanger the lives of innocent motorists, law enforcement officers, as well as the illegal aliens they are transporting.
During one recent chase, DPS officers watched in horror as a human smuggler they were chasing crashed his car into the Rio Grande near Laredo and jumped into the river along with his female partner, who had a baby in her arms!
The driver swam to Mexico, while the woman with the baby was persuaded by officers to return the child to the safety of the Texas shore. She was arrested, and the baby, who was unharmed, was placed in state custody. Five illegal aliens were also apprehended.
CAMOUFLAGED HUMAN SMUGGLER & ALIEN CHASES
The cartels also sell camouflaged clothes and backpacks to illegal aliens who are increasingly being smuggled through sparsely populated remote areas along the Rio Grande as border security is tightened elsewhere. Texas has beefed up K9 and horse patrols there to work alongside a US Border Patrol force that is stretched thin in the wide-open spaces of West Texas.
The addition of the Texas State Troopers on horseback is already beginning to pay off. On New Year’s Day, the DPS reports that its horse patrol captured a previously deported felon crossing a Maverick County ranch whose criminal convictions include child molestation.
Should more law enforcement resources be assigned to deter human smuggling from Mexico into Texas?
Share your opinion in the comments to this article!
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Could the anti-ICE protests be encouraging smugglers to just go ahead no matter what since enforcement will be blocked on many levels?