Urgent Memo: Mexican drug cartels have been given the green light to fire on border officers

In an apparent change in strategy, drug cartels operating on the southern border are now allowing members of those cartels to shoot at U.S. Border Patrol agents, NewsNation reports. 

For quite a while, it has been understood that cartel members were not allowed to shoot at Border Patrol agents because it was feared it might shut down the cartels’ operations on the border. But that has apparently changed after U.S. authorities apprehended two Sinaloa cartel leaders in late July, and an internal alert sent to the El Paso, Texas sector warns agents that they may become a target of cartel members. They have been warned to remain mindful of their surroundings and approach cartel members with extreme caution. 

The memo warned that last week, contractors working on a ranch in the Eagle Pass area of the state’s Del Rio Sector reported getting fired upon from the Mexican side of the border. The memo warned that the contractors saw several individuals in Mexico where the shots came from, but NewsNation reported they could not determine the number of people involved. No injuries were reported. 

Victor Avila, a former special agent within Homeland Security Investigations, warns that law enforcement should remain vigilant given the recent escalation and notes that one cartel has split into two, potentially leading to increased competition and violence. 

“The number one reason they fight for these plazas is because these plazas are the corridors to enter the United States, whether California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and that’s the major fight because the Sinaloa cartel has controlled the whole area," Avila said. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told NewsNation that any threats against law enforcement or illegals are unacceptable and are taken very seriously. The CBP said they remain vigilant and are taking “all appropriate and necessary actions to keep employees and migrants in custody safe,” NewsNation reported. 

Cartel violence on the border appears to be escalating in the lead-up to the November elections in the United States, with cartel leaders probably aware that if Donald Trump is elected president, the salad days of open access at the border may be coming to an end. Last month, an alert was sent out to CBP agents warning of military-grade weapons being found on the Mexican side of the border near Ajo, Arizona. 

The increasing violence led NewsNation to question Trump about the violence and discovery of military-grade weapons near the border during a recent interview. 

“We need a military operation. These people have become military,” Trump said. “They’re very rich, have a lot of money. They’re among the richest people, probably in the world.” 

Recently, Mexican security chief Genaro Garcia Luna was sentenced to 38 years in a U.S. prison for taking bribes from the Sinaloa cartel. In that case, the judge compared him to cartel strongman El Chapo, saying he enabled violence and drug deaths.