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U.S. Issues Highest-Level Travel Advisory for Region of Mexico Near Texas Border Due to Gun Battles, Kidnappings, and IEDs
The State Department has issued the highest-level travel advisory for a region of northeastern Mexico near McAllen and Brownsville, Texas, amidst escalating violence and crime. The warning comes as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration and crime at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The advisory, which is the highest level, warns of gun battles, kidnappings, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the state of Tamaulipas. The state’s government has also issued its own warning, urging the public not to touch or move suspicious-looking devices along the roadside.
According to the advisory, IEDs have been increasingly manufactured and used by criminal organizations in the region. Just last month, an IED destroyed a Mexican government vehicle in Rio Bravo, injuring its occupant. U.S. government employees are prohibited from traveling in and around Reynosa and Rio Bravo outside of daylight hours and to avoid dirt roads throughout Tamaulipas.
Former DEA agent Michael Brown, now the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, commented on the situation, saying that the cartels are no longer making billions of dollars in human trafficking due to the end of the Biden-Harris open-border policies. He believes that the cartels are now resorting to IEDs to counter other cartel movements and human traffickers.
The Level 4 warning comes as the Trump administration begins its crackdown on illegal immigration and crime at the U.S.-Mexico border. Brown warned that the violence in Tamaulipas is similar to that in the Middle East and that the cartels are acting like terrorist organizations, with the end goal of making money.
Last week, officials deported around 2,000 illegal immigrants to Mexico, and Mexican authorities detained roughly 5,000 migrants within their borders. Trump also ordered 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border to boost the military presence there.
