Border Officers Intercept Large Cocaine Smuggling Attempt in Texas

Border agents in Hidalgo, Texas, recently stopped a pickup truck with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from entering the United States from Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exclusively told The Epoch Times on Oct. 6.

The Sept. 27 encounter was one of the latest in a record number of illegal drug seizures at the U.S.–Mexico border and throughout the country by the agency in a single year, nearly doubling totals from prior years.

CBP officers at the Hidalgo International Bridge encountered the black pickup traveling north from Reynosa, Mexico. They gave it a secondary inspection with nonintrusive equipment and also a K9 screening.

The equipment showed anomalies within the Chevrolet truck, and the K9 team detected the odor of narcotics. CBP agents then conducted a physical inspection and extracted 22 packages of cocaine.

The illegal drugs had a combined weight of nearly 60 pounds, which would have fetched $798,000 in the United States, according to the agency.

CBP officers impounded the vehicle, and Homeland Security Investigations special agents launched a criminal probe.

“Our CBP officers are always at the ready and continue to use all available tools and technology to thwart smuggling attempts,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez for the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry.

The agency has seized a total of 867,000 pounds of illegal drugs so far in fiscal year 2026, which runs from October to September, with September’s data not yet included, according to the CBP’s website.

For comparison, all narcotics seized in fiscal year 2025 totaled 583,000 pounds. In fiscal years 2024 and 2023, the amounts were lower: 573,000 and 549,000 pounds, respectively.

Fewer Asylum Claims

CBP in May brought The Epoch Times behind the scenes at one of its busiest ports of entry—the San Ysidro district in San Diego—to explain the sharp increase in drug seizures and the difference made by a change in agency priorities.

CBP leaders in San Diego said President Donald Trump’s border and immigration enforcement policies have slowed the flood of illegal immigrants down to a trickle, allowing agents to shift to enforcement instead of humanitarian and administrative work.

“Without having four or five hundred people in detention making an asylum claim, I’m going to take those officers and say, ‘I don’t need you to process asylum claims, I need you out there looking for dope, looking for people smuggling, looking for those agriculture violations,’” said Mariza Marin, port director at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Reducing the number of CBP officers processing people and paperwork allowed her to transfer more officers to enforcement positions, strengthen the K9 teams, and train more agents across a number of different responsibilities, Martin said.

That shift from the Biden administration to the Trump administration translated to 180 officers at San Ysidro alone being moved from humanitarian work to enforcement and inspection.

“That’s huge; 180 individuals is huge,” said Office of Field Operations Director Sidney Aki for the San Diego sector.

“We have to stop bad people and bad things from entering the United States. I mean, this is our country, this is our communities, this is our families, and we need to protect that.”