Border / Cartel Chronicles - Page 45

As Mexico’s government continues to be unable to address the raging cartel violence and the control that criminal organizations have over the northern part of the country, the Gulf Cartel once again flexed its muscles with complete impunity by dumping the bodies of two of their victims in a cemetery.

Mexican state authorities arrested a top leader within the Gulf Cartel who is ultimately responsible for the 2023 kidnapping of four U.S. citizens, where two of them died, last year in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. That cartel boss has been directly responsible for the spread of violence in the northern part of Tamaulipas but managed to avoid capture for a long time due to his ties to the top government officials.

The State of Texas secured a rehearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that will allow the floating buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande to remain in place until the full court hears the case. The en banc court hearing will take place in May 2024 and reverses a prior ruling ordering the state to remove the barrier system.

A group of indigenous women in Mexico sought help from the country’s raging carte violence not by reaching out to authorities or government but to the leader of one of the most sadistic cartels. The women asked the cartel boss to protect them from a regional boss who had been carrying out kidnappings, murders, and extortions in their communities.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Army National Guard soldiers remain posted at temporary gates erected at the entrance to a city-owned park along the Rio Grande. The park was seized by order of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and closed off to Border Patrol agents unless their entrance into the area is first coordinated with state law enforcement and the Texas Military Department.

The drug cartels fighting for control of western Mexico are manufacturing their own explosive devices and armored vehicles for use in their constant clashes. This trend is tied to the growing use of drones to drop explosives, as well as the use of makeshift mortars.

The top police official in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas sparked much controversy after he publicly begged the drug cartels that control his state to “behave” in the upcoming summer elections.

With temperatures dipping into frigid conditions across the state of Texas, natural gas producers are keeping up with the demand and providing “more than enough natural gas” to meet the needs of power generation stations. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is pushing back against accusations that the Texas Military Department refused to allow Border Patrol agents to enter a city park in the heart of downtown Eagle Pass to rescue a migrant family who later drowned. The governor called the claim “wholly inaccurate.” On Sunday evening, Abbott posted a rebuttal to the accusations on X (formerly Twitter), saying the deaths of a migrant woman and her two children were because of the “Biden Open Border magnet.”

The Gulf Cartel continues to operate with complete impunity as they kidnap migrants trying to reach the U.S. border. The kidnappings continued even after Mexico’s President was forced to admit that his government didn’t rescue a group of 32 migrants that cartel gunmen had kidnapped, but in fact, it was the cartel that released them.

A Mexican migrant woman and her two sons drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas. The drowning comes as the Coahuila-Texas border continues to be one of the main hotspots for illegal border crossings, leading to six fatalities in 12 days.

Four members of a Mexican border-city family died this week, and two others are in critical condition after a group of Gulf Cartel gunmen crashed into their vehicle while fleeing from authorities.

The Texas Military Department seized a city-owned golf course located in the busiest border crossing point along the Rio Grande. The Texas National Guard then ejected U.S. Border Patrol agents from the park and took total control of this section of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter crashed in Kinney County while helping ground crews track a group of migrants attempting to avoid apprehension in the brush. The two crew members onboard did not sustain any major injuries, according to a law enforcement source.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refused a request from the House Committee on Homeland Security to appear on Thursday to answer questions regarding his handling of the migration crisis along the southwest border. According to a statement by Committee Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), Mayorkas thumbed his nose at the latest request to appear before the committee, citing commitments to meet with a delegation of Mexican cabinet members next week.

Mexican authorities detained 40 Chinese migrants who were traveling by bus in southern Mexico on their way north with the goal of reaching the U.S. border. The detention came on the same day that authorities also detained 180 migrants from Central and South America in another location in an apparent crackdown on migrants trying to reach its northern border.

Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly 16,000 Chinese migrants who crossed the border between ports of entry since the new fiscal year began on October 1, according to unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. This number is nearly two-thirds of the Chinese migrants apprehended during the entire Fiscal Year 23, which ended on September 30.

Authorities in central Mexico continue to look into the killing of nine men after gunmen dumped their bodies in a rural area. The incident raises concerns over what appears to be the start of a new turf war in the

A group of Gulf Cartel gunmen in Tamaulipas dropped several ice chests with human body parts in a popular shopping center parking lot just a short distance south of the border with Texas. The gory discovery took place in the same parking lot where Gulf Cartel gunmen released a group of 32 migrants that they kidnapped days prior.

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials report the apprehension of nearly 35,000 migrants during the last two weeks of December. At about the same time, Tucson Sector officials reported apprehending more than 30,000 migrants.

The mother and aunts of a former Mexican border city mayor died when a small airplane crashed a short distance from a landing strip. A total of four individuals, including three female U.S. citizens and the pilot, died in the crash.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 30,000 migrants during the weeks of the Christmas and New Year holidays. The surge of migrants into the Tucson Sector in recent weeks continues to break long-standing records.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will visit the border region with a quick stop in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday — just two days before he is slated to appear for impeachment proceedings before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Mayorkas visit will include meetings with local officials, Customs and Border Protection staff members, and Border Patrol officials from the Del Rio Sector.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was forced to admit that the Gulf Cartel released a group of 32 kidnapped migrants — dismissing previous government claims that police and military forces had rescued the group. The statements by Lopez Obrador confirm details first published by Breitbart Texas, revealing that officials with the Tamaulipas government and the federal government had tried to take credit for the release of the migrants.

U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales (R-TX) says he is ready for a budget showdown if any discussions on funding the government later this month do not include tighter border security measures. The Congressman spoke to Breitbart Texas during a recent border visit he hosted that included Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and 64 other Republican legislators.

Mexican authorities are trying to take credit for rescuing 31 migrants that the Gul Carte kidnapped last weekend. In reality, the criminal organization dropped them off at a shopping center so authorities could find them. The “rescue” follows days of negative press at the national level in Mexico, causing tension and pressure within the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, accompanied by a group of 64 other Republican legislators, visited the small Texas border city of Eagle Pass to receive a security briefing on the latest surge that saw more than 70,000 migrants cross the Rio Grande into the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector in December. Although the pace of migrant crossings has slowed in recent days, on Wednesday, Johnson made clear the responsibility for the record-breaking crossings at the border falls directly on the President’s failed policies.

A press conference held by U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was interrupted by a group of migrants crossing the Rio Grande. The group of five migrants, including two children, crossed the border river within yards of the press conference and under the watch of the Del Rio Sector Border Patrol chief patrol agent.

The House Homeland Security Committee will begin impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on January 10.

Authorities in the border Mexican state of Tamaulipas are trying to hide details of a cartel attack where gunmen injured two children who were innocent bystanders. The gunmen were trying to kill a squad of Mexican Army soldiers. The case is the latest of its kind where government officials try to hide cases of extreme cartel violence to claim that the region is safe under their watch.

A Harris County grand jury declined to file charges against a man who shot and killed a would-be robber in a Houston taqueria nearly one year ago. The man got the drop on the robber after throwing money on the ground as a distraction and then fired multiple shots leaving the robber dead.

With just hours to go before the largest yet congressional visit arrives at the border in the small Texas town of Eagle Pass, a source within Customs and Border Protection tells Breitbart Texas what they will witness pales in comparison to the migrant surge and grossly overcrowded facilities experienced during the month of December. A nearby soft-sided processing facility designed to accommodate 1,000 migrants that has routinely held nearly 6,000 during the month is now holding less than 500.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “is pathetic” in response to the secretary’s comments on MSNBC blaming the record-shattering December migrant apprehensions on climate change.

Border Patrol agents in the Tucson and Del Rio Sectors apprehended approximately 151,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry during the month of December, according to unofficial reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The reported apprehensions shatter prior records for both sectors.

Mexican authorities announced the rescue of five Venezuelan migrants who were kidnapped as part of a group of 31 passengers riding a bus in the border state of Tamaulipas. Cartel gunmen from the Gulf Cartel boarded a bus and kidnapped the migrants.

For the first time ever, migrant encounters along the southern border exceeded 300,000 in a single month, according to a report citing unofficial CBP sources. The report states December was the highest month in history for migrant encounters along the southwest border.