The Cartels Are Losing Billions of Dollars and Getting More Violent

Now that the cartels have been designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), business along the US-Mexico border has taken a hit – at least for the syndicate. With the crackdown on illegal immigration and President Donald Trump’s vow to remove those in the country unlawfully, the cartels are having a difficult time making up for the money they’re losing.

Former DEA Senior Special Agent Micael Brown told Fox News: “Under the last four years of the Biden-Harris administration, nothing was done. The cartels were given carte blanche across the United States through the open-border system. Now that’s been cut off, and they’ve been designated as terrorist organizations.” He continued

“With the sudden end of the Biden-Harris open-border policies, the cartels are no longer making billions of dollars in human trafficking.”

Not to mention the money lost from drug trafficking.

Violent crimes have dramatically increased as a result as cartel members look for ways to keep their business going. It is becoming so dangerous that US government employees are prohibited from traveling “in and around Reynosa and Rio Bravo outside of daylight hours and to avoid dirt roads throughout Tamaulipas,” according to an advisory sent by the State Department.

“The state of Tamaulipas has issued a warning to avoid moving or touching improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have been found in and around the area of Reynosa, Rio Bravo, Valle Hermoso, and San Fernando along dirt and secondary roads,” the department’s travel advisory reads. “IEDs are being increasingly manufactured and used by criminal organizations in this region.”

Why are the cartels becoming even more violent? According to Brown, it’s a matter of competition since their options to get across the border are being shut down. “Now that area has been reduced significantly, meaning cartels, which may have been working together up to a week ago, are now competing for access to Reynosa and Matamoros because human smuggling is not going to stop, it’s just going to be more expensive, more dangerous, and they’re going to have to use traffickers, are going to have to use more selective routes in order to get around Border Patrol and…perhaps U.S. military,” Brown told Fox News.

On Monday, January 27, as a group of migrants tried to cross the Rio Grande, alleged cartel members started firing shots at Border Patrol agents, the agency told the New York Post. The incident took place around 1:30 p.m. local time near Fronton, Texas. Lt. Chris Olivarez posted several images and videos on X saying, “DPS drone operators captured the gunmen fleeing Mexico due to military presence and seeking refuge on an island between the US and Mexico.” The Post reported that there had been no injuries, and the would-be illegal migrants were not able to make it across the border.

With Trump in office, the cartels can no longer sit back and watch their fortunes grow. As Brown said, there were millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the border over the past four years. “Each one of those migrants had to pay a toll to a cartel or to smaller groups. So we’re talking about billions of dollars for the last four years with absolutely no effort whatsoever on the part of the cartels.”

The State Department issued a Level 4 warning for traveling to the Tamaulipas area, noting that criminal groups often target particular areas such as public and private passenger buses and vehicles, “often taking passengers and demanding ransom pay.” Add that to the cartels fighting against each other for territory and business, and the area just became that much more dangerous.