Unidentified cartel gunmen exchanged gunfire with U.S. Border Patrol agents in the southern border near Texas as the men tried to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the U.S. on Monday afternoon.
The migrants were seeking to enter the U.S. through a river located near Fronton, southern Texas. State officials released drone footage that showed a group of men brandishing firearms as they walked along a river bank. The migrants trying to cross the border were ultimately unable to enter the country.
The suspected cartel gunmen shot at Border Patrol officers, who returned fire. Neither party was hit or injured, according to a report by Fox News. Texas' Department of Public Safety (DPS), patrolling the area after the encounter told the news outlet that Mexican military vehicles could be seen on the other side of the border afterwards.
"On January 27, 2025, at approximately 1:29 p.m., [border patrol agents] reported shots fired in Fronton, Texas. The scene remains active; no injuries have been reported," U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said in a statement on Monday.
Chirs Olivarez, a spokesman with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), said the suspected cartel members were fleeing Mexico when the gunfire broke out. He said DPS officers "responded to assist the U.S. Border Patrol after agents received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico."
While this isn't the first time border agents have been attacked by human smugglers, they generally keep a low profile for fear of drawing a retaliatory response from the U.S., according to The Telegraph.
The shootout comes just a week after President Donald Trump, who has vowed to crack down on immigration and give his administration a focus on "law and order," took back the White House. Since then, he has enacted sweeping immigration laws, some of which have been challenged in the courts or heavily criticized by his detractors.
Thousands of additional active-duty troops are being deployed to the U.S. southern border, and Trump also issued an executive order stating he will decide within 90 days whether to invoke the Insurrection Act there, something that would allow him to use active-duty troops domestically for law enforcement.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday her country received about 4,000 deportees from the U.S. during the first week of the new administration, adding that the figure did not represent a "substantial increase" from previous weeks.
"If we take the weekly figure it is a number that our country has seen on other occasions," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. She added that four deportation flights landed in Mexico over the past days, a figure that is also not unprecedented.
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