Mexican authorities abandoned at least two immigration checkpoints along the busiest highway used by cartel-linked human smugglers to reach the Texas border. The abandoned posts were revealed as U.S. authorities report record-setting numbers of migrant apprehensions in South Texas.
Breitbart Texas obtained exclusive access to a Mexican federal memo that revealed since early June, agents with the National Migration Institute (INM) were removed from the checkpoint in Cadereyta, along the highway that connects the Monterrey metropolitan area with the border city of Reynosa. Additionally, Breitbart Texas discovered that INM officials stopped manning their checkpoint south of Reynosa along the same highway. In the past, INM agents, along with Mexico’s National Guard and Nuevo Leon State Police, inspected vehicles traveling north for migrants in the country illegally.
During the month of July, Breitbart Texas took several trips along that highway to document the lack of law enforcement presence at both checkpoints. The two stations have tents and trailers that the agents would use while manning the checkpoints.
The route from Monterrey to Reynosa is used by the Gulf Cartel as the criminal organization continues to profit from the mass migration of Central Americans to Texas. Since the start of the year, the Gulf Cartel shifted its operational resources to prioritize human smuggling and has proven successful in overwhelming the detention capabilities of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Breitbart Texas consulted with Mexican law enforcement sources who revealed that federal budget shortfalls and security concerns over armed cartel convoys are the primary reasons why the checkpoints were abandoned. Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas state police forces recently placed some high-ranking INM personnel under investigation for working for the Gulf Cartel and others.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Gerald “Tony” Aranda is an international journalist with more than 20 years of experience working in high-risk areas for print and broadcast news outlets investigating organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2016, Gerald took up the pseudonym of “Tony” when he joined Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project. Since then, he has come out of the shadows and become a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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