Gunfight erupts on the border as Mexican drug cartels smuggling migrants across open fire on US Border Patrol agents

American Border Patrol agents stationed at the Mexican border were fired upon by a suspected drug cartel in an effort to smuggle illegal migrants into Texas.

The gunfight broke out on Monday near the disputed territory of Fronton, Texas, exactly one week after President Donald Trump returned to office and began his sweeping deportation crackdown.

While the cartel suspected of being responsible for the violence has been shooting across the border for years, NewsNation reports that the crisis in the region has 'escalated in unprecedented ways since President Trump was elected.'

The cartel has reportedly 'given orders to shoot at agents recently.' No agents were injured in Monday's shootout.

Border Patrol 'returned fire' and the 'illegal aliens did not make it across,' Fox reported. 

Fronton became a favorite Mexican cartel destination to smuggle people and drugs across the border, due to dense forest and vegetation which made it difficult to patrol.

Texas DPS Lieutenant Chris Olivarez told Fox that state officials 'had enough' in October and launched a full-scale crackdown, clearing out the vegetation and brush to make it impossible for cartels to move through the area covertly.

Governor Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star targeting cartels in the area, sending a letter to the Biden-Harris administration criticizing their handling of the border crisis.

'For years, the cartels were 'running rampant' in Fronton Island's 'thick vegetation' and 'bullet-pocked structures' along the river to stage illegal entries,' he wrote.

'I will not cede state land to transnational criminal cartels smuggling people, weapons, and drugs. Nor will I sit idly by as these threats endanger Texas law enforcement and Texas communities.'

President Trump campaigned on a pledge to rid America of illegal immigrants and has stuck to his word, immediately beginning the largest mass deportation drive on record in the US. 

And authorities have since confirmed that attempts to illegally enter the country are at record lows, with less than 600 new arrivals on Sunday.

The Del Rio sector – which was dealing with upwards of 4,000 crossings each day at the height of the crisis in December 2023, recorded just 60 on Sunday. 

In the final days of the Biden administration, anywhere between 1,200 to 1,400 people were arriving daily to enter the US.

There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security statistics.

'In the first week of the Trump Administration, we have fulfilled President Trump's promise to the American people to arrest and deport violent criminals illegally in the country,' the Department said in a statement.

'In one week, law enforcement officials have removed and returned 7,300 illegal aliens... including hundreds of convicted criminals.'

Deportation flights to Jordan, Brazil, Mexico and El Salvador have all taken place, authorities said. 

Upon returning to the White House, President Trump declared Mexican drug cartels 'foreign terrorist organizations' and said there was a 'national emergency' at the border.

Around 1,500 active troops were deployed to the nearly 2,000-mile border this week, including 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in California.

The Pentagon expects additional troops to be ordered to deploy in the next few days as defense and homeland security leaders iron out requests for more support.

Trump has reinstated a 'Remain in Mexico' policy - under which people who apply to enter the US from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.

The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.