After the Mexican military confiscated ten improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the southern border, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is alerting agents to “exercise extreme caution” and watch for additional explosive devices.
An anonymous federal law enforcement source told Fox Business that an internal officer safety alert distributed on Dec. 13 warns CBP to be on heightened alert due to a recent incident that involved the Mexican military seizing ten IEDs during a cartel fight at the southern border.
The federal law enforcement source told Fox Business that the CBP’s internal officer safety alert warns agents to “exercise extreme caution and should report any possible armed subjects approaching the border with possible explosive devices.”
Fox Business reported that Mexican authorities discovered the IEDs after Tucson Border Patrol reported gunshots from the southern border. According to Fox Business, a supervisory border patrol agent arrested an armed individual on the U.S. side of the border with a handgun, a loaded AK-47 rifle, two AK magazines, and additional ammunition.
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Another anonymous source told Fox Business that the incident involved a cartel fight for the control of a gap in the southern border fence at a ranch that has previously been used by cartels to smuggle illegal drugs across the border. The source told Fox Business that the location has also been used for human smuggling.
The agency’s warning to agents at the southern border comes as Republican lawmakers continue to demand additional border security provisions be included in President Joe Biden’s $106 billion package for Ukraine and Israel, according to Fox Business.
While Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain in disagreement over proposed border security policies, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) announced Thursday that the Senate would post-pone its Christmas break and meet again on Monday to continue negotiating.
“That will give negotiators from the White House, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, a time to work through the weekend in an effort to reach a framework agreement,” Schumer said. “It will then take some time to turn that framework into text.”
