(Texas Scorecard) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced new efforts to its ongoing enforcement operations against transnational criminal organizations.
According to Troy A. Miller, CBP senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, Operation Plaza Spike in the El Paso and Juarez region, along with a new counter-fentanyl surge operation—called Apollo X—will bring the full force of CBP across the southwest border from El Paso to San Diego.
“These ruthless criminal organizations peddle chaos and profit from human suffering. They traffic illicit drugs into our country that make their way into our communities,” said Miller.
CBP’s Operation Plaza Spike aims to disrupt the cartel operations in “plazas,” cartel territories south of the United States, by targeting the plaza bosses and cartels that enable the flow of deadly fentanyl as well as tools to make the drugs.
Apollo X is the latest southwest border-wide measure to find and seize fentanyl, uncover supply chains, and determine where the contraband is coming from and where it’s headed. CBP will also share information with state and local partners to find and stop transnational criminal organization networks.
“Let me be very clear, if you are making or moving fentanyl across our borders, if you are responsible for smuggling and exploiting people, and if you are profiting from the suffering of others, we know who you are and we are bringing the full force of the federal government to shut you down,” said Miller.
The timing of these new CBP efforts follows criticism of the Biden administration’s border policies, including the extreme views on immigration from border Czar and presumptive Democrat nominee for president Kamala Harris.
“The crisis at our southern border is not a laughing matter—it’s a matter of life and death,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in an X post on Monday. “Border Czar Kamala Harris had one job: secure the border.”
He added, “On her watch, more illegal immigrants have crossed the border than EVER before—including known terrorists and criminals.”
Border security efforts by Abbott, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas National Guard have led to more than 516,300 illegal alien apprehensions since the state’s Operation Lone Star began in 2021.