A new report claims that criminal members of the Sinaloa drug cartel have been granted permission by the cartel leaders to shoot and kill U.S. Border Patrol agents.
According to an internal Border Patrol memo recently issued to the El Paso, Texas, sector of the agency that was obtained by NewsNation, there has been an understanding between the criminal cartels operating at the southern border between the United States and Mexico and Border Patrol officials that the cartels would not shoot at Border Patrol agents out of concerns that the agency could retaliate by shutting down cartel operations.
However, the internal Border Patrol memo revealed that the situation between the criminal cartels and Border Patrol agents has significantly changed following the arrests of Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, two senior Sinaloa cartel leaders, over the summer, according to The Post Millennial. Amid a civil war between younger cartel leaders, the Sinaloa cartel members are reportedly no longer being ordered to avoid deadly force when attempting to avoid capture by Border Patrol agents.
According to NewsNation, the El Paso, Texas, sector of U.S. Customs and Border Protection has warned Border Patrol agents to use caution and to no longer assume that cartel members will not use deadly force against them.
Victor Avila, a former Homeland Security Investigation special agent, told NewsNation that law enforcement officials should be concerned regarding the increased threat from the Sinaloa cartel amid the cartel’s civil war.
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Avila told NewsNation, “The No. 1 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 that whole area.”
NewsNation reported that Customs and Border Protection has indicated that the increased threats by criminal cartels against law enforcement officials and migrants are not acceptable and are being taken seriously by the agency. According to the outlet, the agency emphasized that it is taking action to provide protection for both the employees and migrants in its custody.
NewsNation previously reported that Border Patrol agents were warned last month of increased threats along the southern border after military-grade weapons were found on Mexico’s side of the border near Ajo, Arizona.
Asked about the increased threats at the southern border, former President Donald Trump told NewsNation, “We need a military operation. These people have become military. They’re very rich, have a lot of money. They’re among the richest people, probably in the world.”
