Texas Rangers, Border Patrol reclaim Rio Grande Island previously used as base of operations by Mexican drug cartels

11/29/2023 / By Arsenio Toledo

Customs and Border Protection, in cooperation with Texas Rangers, have reclaimed an island in the Rio Grande previously used by Mexican cartels for decades as a base of operations for human and drug trafficking operations in the United States.

This is according to an anonymous informant interviewed by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, on his program, the “Health Ranger Report,” who noted that the Texas Rangers and Border Patrol are focusing a lot of their new patrols on Fronton Island, a 170-acre island on the American side of the Rio Grande River that serves as the border between the U.S. and Mexico in that part of Texas.

According to this informant, Mexican drug cartels were using the cover provided by the uninhabited island’s nature to keep their movements into the U.S. concealed from authorities just across the river who were tasked with observing and preventing potential border crossings. (Related: CONFIRMED: Mexican cartels are now INSIDE the U.S. forming gangs and SNIPER NESTS to take out Americans.)

Previous drone footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) confirms that Mexican drug cartel operatives had previously used Fronton Island as a staging point, with the footage showing at least 10 black-clad men carrying high-powered firearms patrolling the island.

But the situation got worse when two rival cartels started battling for control over the island and the lucrative drug and human trafficking trade going on on the island.

“It was being invaded and used for trafficking on a regular basis,” said Adams’ source, who added that this forced Texas authorities to act by sending in armed personnel to clear the island.

Mexican cartels had been using Fronton Island for decades

For decades before Texas law enforcement officially announced that Fronton Island had been taken under the control of the state, it had been largely under the purview of two warring cartels – the Gulf Cartel and Cartel del Noreste.

Mike Salinas, a retired Border Patrol agent with over 30 years of experience in the Rio Grande, noted that much of the free reign of the two cartels over the island was partly due to the fact that both the U.S. and Mexico forgot who owned the island.

Not wanting to risk the possible diplomatic crisis that may ensue from the U.S. or Mexican military and law enforcement unwittingly working on the other’s possible territory without the requisite permission, the island turned into no man’s land.

“Ownership has always been an issue for the State of Texas,” said Salinas. “And as far as Border Patrol is concerned, it was always a ‘Let’s not get on there and find out’ [if Mexico owned the island], because the optics of that whole thing might open up a big old Pandora’s Box of holy moly.”

The ambiguity of this situation reigned so much that, by the time Texas Rangers began their operation to clear out the island, they were warning embedded journalists of possible firefights by cartel members holed up in structures they have built on the island.

“We’ve encountered armed gunmen, cartel members that have come across on Fronton. We’ve encountered ammunition,” said Texas DPS spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez. “We want to take full control of that island so we can change how these cartels are operating in that area.”

Since the operation began in early October, DPS has cleared Fronton Island’s thick vegetation and installed anti-immigrant and anti-cartel obstacles like spools of razor wire.

Watch this episode of the “Health Ranger Report” to hear the full interview of Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and his confidential informant within Border Patrol.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.