A massive meth bust on the Texas-Mexico border came just days before the White House touted major progress on a sweeping new border security package.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on May 15 that officers at the Rio Grande City Port of Entry seized 191 pounds of methamphetamine—valued at over $1.7 million—hidden in a passenger vehicle driven by a 26-year-old Mexican national. The narcotics were discovered during a secondary inspection involving canine teams and non-intrusive scanning equipment.
Just four days later, CBP posted a statement on X aligning the agency with the administration’s push for a sweeping new border security bill. “The Big Beautiful Bill will ensure more funding to finish the construction of the border wall with cutting edge technology that will secure our homeland for generations to come,” the May 19 post read. “We have the most secure border in American history, but we can’t let up now: this bill will fund our Border Patrol and ICE agents to carry out the arrest and removal of criminal illegal aliens.”
The tweet echoed remarks delivered minutes earlier by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who, during a May 19 briefing, celebrated the bill’s advancement through a key committee in the House of Representatives after a late May 18 vote.
The legislation, dubbed “The Big Beautiful Bill” by its supporters, includes billions in new funding to complete President Donald Trump’s signature border wall, expand surveillance technology, and bolster frontline personnel at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a White House press release.
The presser indicates that the bill will result in the construction of 701 miles of primary wall, 900 miles of river barriers, and hundreds of miles of additional secondary and vehicle barriers. It also pledges investment in “cutting-edge technology that will secure our homeland for generations to come.”
The House Homeland Security Committee advanced the bill last week. According to Homeland Security Republican News, the proposal includes $46.5 billion for border barrier systems, $5 billion for CBP facilities, $2 billion for retention bonuses and signing incentives, $2.7 billion for surveillance technology, and over $1 billion for non-intrusive inspection systems.
Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN), who leads the committee, said in an op-ed that the package delivers on longstanding requests from border agents. “Homeland Republicans proudly advanced funding to give Border Patrol agents the tools they have long requested,” Green wrote. “Democrats would rather advocate for a radical, open-borders agenda than for the safety of their own constituents.”
CBP officials in South Texas stressed the stakes of the recent seizure. “This seizure underscores the reality of the drug threat and the importance of upholding our priority border security mission,” said Rogelio Olivares, Port Director at the Rio Grande City crossing, in a release describing the meth seizure.
The drugs were found on May 13 in a Kia Sorrento driven by a woman referred for secondary inspection. Officers uncovered 83 packages of methamphetamine totaling more than 190 pounds. The vehicle and narcotics were seized, and the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested the driver.
The incident is the latest in a string of high-value drug interdictions along the southern border. It also comes as the Trump administration continues to lean heavily on executive orders and budgetary maneuvering to revive and expand stricter immigration policies.
A March 4 press release from the White House claimed that illegal border crossings fell 94% in February compared to the same month under the Biden administration, while ICE arrests surged 627%. Officials framed these figures as evidence of restored enforcement capability.
Still, the administration faces limits on how far it can go without additional resources. The Dallas Express previously reported that, even with aggressive deportation measures, current capacity would only allow the Trump administration to remove around 2 million illegal immigrants by the end of a second term in January 2029—far short of the hopes of campaign-era supporters.
That’s where the “Big Beautiful Bill” comes in.
The administration and its allies hope the legislation will mark a decisive turn from the last four years of record migration, overburdened facilities, and humanitarian controversy.
Democrats have criticized the legislation. “This spending bill is terrible, and I think the American people know that,” Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on May 18. “There is nothing wrong with us bringing the government in balance. But there is a problem when that balance comes on the back of working men and women. And that’s what is happening here.”
CBP is urging vigilance and doubling down on what it sees as an enduring threat. “Our frontline CBP officers utilized an effective combination of technology and inspections experience,” said Olivares, “to take down this significant load of methamphetamine.”