Texas Rangers Raid "Cartel Island" on Border with Mexico

The border with Mexico has recently become a hot spot for cartel activity. This has further fueled the fire of the humanitarian crisis. Many areas will have large population centers on the Mexican side of the border, and little to no infrastructure on the American side, making them ideal places for launching points into the U.S. Some recent efforts have been made to fix this situation. US Authorities have built autonomous border patrol watch towers, Autonomous watch towers scan the environment with radar to detect movement then it orients the camera to that location. I’ve used something similar to this when I was in Iraq and its detection capabilities are incredible. You can easily spot targets over 2 kilometers away. Computer AI algorithms analyzes the imagery to automatically identify if its worth notifying and sending agents out to the scene. but these are expensive and typically dozens of miles apart. They are only posted where terrain permits at the most easily accessible crossing points.

Written by: Chris Cappy & Justin Taylor

Edited by: Michael Michaelides

The US Police successfully seized Fronton island by force without incident during what the Texas government is calling Operation Lone Star. Officers even planted a Texas flag on the island. I'm half surprised they didn’t also plant a buc ee's flag along with it. But the occupation by the police force was only the first stage of a much larger plan. The fight may have only just begun because Drone footage captured at least 10 cartel members patrolling through this same stretch of border only a month after the raid. Then Ground level cameras captured even more armed foot soldiers here.

The end goal of the island was to completely clear it of all vegetation, and cut off all potential access from Mexico. The Texas Department of Public Safety, who headed the operation made the all clear, which greenlighted national guard horizontal construction troops from the 176th Engineer Brigade to bring in their heavy equipment. They laid down over a mile and a half of razor wire to stop cartel freedom of movement. They immediately started stripping Fronton island of foliage, ripping up trees and removing brush. Additional wire obstacles were emplaced on the far side of the island, and regular patrols by National Guard units under Operation Lone star began.

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