Mexico finds alleged cartel encampment on island by Texas border

January 29, 2025

A green tarp held up by stakes in the ground in a grassy, sandy area. Underneath and around the lean-to are clothes and other gear not clear enough in the photo — A lean-to at a supposed "narco encampment" discovered by Mexican authorities Tuesday on Isla de los Castores, an uninhabited island in the Rio Grande in Tamaulipas. (Government of Mexico)

Federal and Tamaulipas security authorities discovered on Tuesday a so-called “narco-camp” on an island in the Rio Grande from which suspected cartel gunmen allegedly engaged in a confrontation with United States border patrol agents in Texas on Monday.

Soldiers, Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) agents and state police located the camp on a small island called Isla Los Castores near the town of Los Guerra, Tamaulipas, according to media reports.

A semicircle of uniformed Mexican soldiers and state police officers from Tamaulipas, Mexico advancing through grassy scrub with tall bare trees in the background. — Tamaulipas state law enforcement, along with the Mexican military were involved in the raid on Isla Los Castores Tuesday. (Government of Mexico)

They reportedly seized weapons, ammunition, radios and tactical gear from the narcocampamento, where sleeping pads and kitchen utensils were also found.

The discovery came a day after U.S. border patrol agents patrolling in Fronton, Starr County, Texas, “received gunfire from cartel members in Mexico,” according to Chris Olivarez, spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

In a post to X, Olivarez included footage of the alleged cartel gunmen on an island.

“DPS Drone Operators captured the gunmen fleeing Mexico due to military presence, & seeking refuge on an island between the US & Mexico. The State of Texas will continue to monitor the area closely & use every resource available to prevent transnational threats to our law enforcement partners & the homeland,” he said.

Fox News reported that “U.S. Border Patrol agents exchanged gunfire with suspected cartel members near the U.S.-Mexican border on Monday.”

“… A group of illegal aliens was attempting to cross the Rio Grande while bullets were fired but did not make it across,” Fox News said. “Neither the Border Patrol agents nor the suspected cartel members were hit.”

Map of parts of Texas and northern Mexico showing the Rio Grande river running through the border between the two countries and the Gulf of Mexico on the right. — Fronton Island (marked by the blue pin) is an uninhabited island also in the Rio Grande River, in Starr County, Texas. It is located near Isla las Castores. Texas authorities have been patrolling Fronton Island since at least 2023, after clearing out evidence of occupation, allegedly by cartels smuggling migrants across the Rio Grande into the U.S. (Wikimedia Commons)

“… The area where the gunfire exchange took place is near Fronton Island, also unofficially known as ‘Cartel Island’ due to the criminal activity there,” the news outlet said.

At her Tuesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum cast doubt on the accuracy of media reports, saying that the government had received “a note” about the alleged incident from a Mexican Consulate in the United States that didn’t “precisely” match “the information that appeared in the media.”

Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said that the FGR was investigating. No arrests have been reported in connection with the apparent confrontation with U.S. border patrol agents.

The incident occurred one week after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States and five days after Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses announced that he had approved the immediate deployment of 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the United States’ southwest border.

The new United States government is bolstering security along the 3,145-kilometer-long U.S.-Mexico border as it seeks to stem the flow of migrants and narcotics into the U.S.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on X on Wednesday that he had issued five executive orders “directing Texas state agencies to partner with the Trump Administration.”

Those orders included “directing state agencies to assist federal immigration officers to investigate, arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants in Texas” and “directing the Texas Military Department to assist the United States Northern Command in repelling the invasion, securing the southern border, and neutralizing foreign enemies infiltrating Texas.”

With reports from Excélsior, El Financiero, Reforma and Noticias de Tamaulipas