Border Patrol agents in the United States engaged in a shootout with individuals believed to be associated with a cartel in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, amidst the escalating actions taken by the U.S. government against criminal immigrants.
This exchange of gunfire, occurring precisely a week subsequent to President Donald Trump’s inauguration when he initiated stricter border control measures, transpired at approximately 2 p.m. local time near Fronton, Texas.
An incident unfolded as a group of unauthorized migrants tried to traverse the Rio Grande while shots were being discharged, yet they were unsuccessful in reaching the other side. No injuries were reported on either side, with both the Border Patrol officers and the alleged cartel affiliates escaping unscathed.
President Trump recently designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
The area where the gunfire exchange took place is near Fronton Island, also unofficially known as “Cartel Island” due to the criminal activity there. In an interview with Fox News Digital in 2023, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said that she declared the land as Texas territory – even though it had not officially been before – to grant law enforcement the right to patrol there.
Wilderness surrounds the banks of the Rio Grande River, which is the border between the United States and Mexico in this part of rural Texas, on December 1, 2023 in Fronton, Starr County, Texas. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Last week, a Fox News Digital exclusive found that a sharp drop in illegal immigrant encounters occurred in the first days of the Trump administration – 35% lower than the final three days of the Biden administration.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources said that there were 1,288 encounters nationwide on Jan. 17, then 1,266 on Jan. 18 and 1,354 on Jan. 19. The 3,908 encounters in the last few days of the Biden administration countered the 2,523 encounters in the first three days of the Trump administration: 1,073; 736; and 714 from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22, respectively.
The banks of the Rio Grande/Bravo River on the border of El Paso, Texas, United States with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“Enforcing our Nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States,” Trump said in an executive order last week. “The American people deserve a Federal Government that puts their interests first and a Government that understands its sacred obligation to prioritize the safety, security, and financial and economic well-being of Americans.”
Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
