On Wednesday, a report surfaced that gunmen for the drug cartels south of the American border have been taunting Texas National Guard soldiers by standing across the Rio Grande with AK-47s.
Bill Melugin of FOX News tweeted, “It was reported that in multiple instances over the past several days, Texas DPS tells me suspected cartel gunmen involved in human smuggling have stood in & near the Rio Grande in Starr County and taunted TX National Guard soldiers. They wear tac vests & have AK47s.”
NEW: In multiple instances over the past several days, Texas DPS tells me suspected cartel gunmen involved in human smuggling have stood in & near the Rio Grande in Starr County and taunted TX National Guard soldiers. They wear tac vests & have AK47s.
Courtesy: @TxDPS @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/68dpIOa2Nc— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) October 6, 2021
Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott tweeted earlier this week, “Texas National Guard is gearing up at the border for increased caravans attempting to cross the border caused by Biden’s open border policy. They are working with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety to seal surge locations at the border & arrest trespassers.”
Texas National Guard is gearing up at the border for increased caravans attempting to cross the border caused by Biden’s open border policy.
They are working with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety to seal surge locations at the border & arrest trespassers.
@TexasGuard pic.twitter.com/VAKGoHak0G
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 2, 2021
Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said on Wednesday night, “It’s basically — think like football. Basically they fake a play over here and the real play’s going to the left. So when we get distracted with 15 to 20,000 Haitians under a bridge, that resulted in several hundred miles of border having no border agents on it at all. That’s where the cartels push the narcotics through; the criminal aliens, people that will not give up. We have over 400,000 documented ‘gotaways,’ people or incidents where people crossed the border and got away this past year; hundreds of miles of border where we have no idea what took place. That’s what mass migration creates.”
Fox News’ Bret Baier commented, “You’re talking about the cartels and moving all kinds of material, but specifically drugs through the border. So this ‘look at the shiny thing over here’ happens every day?”
Scott: “It happens every day. It happens increasingly the more they can distract, the more that they can overwhelm our resources. So for example, in Del Rio, 100% of the Border Patrol agents for a couple of days were focused on that bridge. But we also keep forgetting that’s a big border; McAllen is still out of control; Yuma is getting overrun …”
WATCH: Former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott says "over 400,000 documented 'gotaways'" have illegally entered the United States this year. pic.twitter.com/0IQr6Sd4lX
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 5, 2021
Dante Sorianello, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the San Antonio district, stated, “The trafficking groups that smuggle narcotics across the border — were trying to surge and push a lot more narcotics into the country because they felt that the checks and balances and security was lessened, due to the immigration issues occurring. … In the last year, DEA and law enforcement authorities have seized over 9.5 million counterfeit – fentanyl-laced pills. That is over twice as many that were seized in the last two years. So this is a real threat that is out there.”
He concluded, “CBP, Border Patrol. They are the first line of defense for the United States on our borders. It is critical. Without them, doing their jobs, I believe the United States very vulnerable.”