Government uncovers cartel plot to kidnap Border Patrol and customs officers in Texas

Federal law enforcement authorities have reason to believe a Mexican cartel is looking to kidnap federal law enforcement in western Texas, prompting agents and officers to be on guard, three employees at U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.Select CBP employees were recently notified by the agency that a particular smuggler planned to bring multiple people from Colombia and Venezuela into the United States to “target and kidnap” CBP personnel in the El Paso, Texas, and Presidio, Texas, areas, NewsNation first reported Tuesday evening.CBP said it is gathering information about individuals, groups, and organizations that threaten the United States. “CBP maintains proactive intelligence on all foreign actors that are a threat to the homeland. All relevant information is diligently vetted with appropriate partners to determine validity,” CBP said in a statement. “The specific tactics, procedures, and methods CBP uses to mitigate these threats and ensure the safety of CBP personnel and equities is robust. CBP does not comment on these methods to ensure the continued safety of our interests and the American Homeland.”Border Patrol agents work between ports of entry where vehicles and pedestrians cross. CBP’s Office of Field Operations are based at the ports of entry.Cartel-related threats are not new, although the pressure that the Trump administration has put on Mexico to prevent migrants from traversing through the country into the U.S. has prompted violence as the cross-border crime rings lose billions of dollars per year in human smuggling profits.Last October, federal law enforcement learned that a Mexican-based individual had placed bounties on the heads of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while officers were conducting a monthslong enforcement operation in Chicago.The Department of Homeland Security shared internal information from the Drug Enforcement Administration with the Washington Examiner about how gangs in Chicago’s southwest neighborhoods were offered bounties between $5,000 and $50,000 for each ICE employee assassination.REPUBLICANS ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT TRUMP’S BIGGEST 2024 CAMPAIGN PROMISEIn late September, Coast Guard personnel in southeast Texas reported being shot at from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande as they attempted to intercept illegal immigrants at the river that divides the U.S. and Mexico. The Coast Guard returned fire.Since that incident, the government has sent in 500 troops to the Rio Grande Valley.