U.S. Customs and Border Protection is warning border patrol agents to be on the watch for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The announcement comes after the Mexican military seized 10 IEDs after a cartel gunfight for control over a gap in the border fence in U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
Cartels exploit gaps in border defenses for drug trafficking and human smuggling.
A federal law enforcement source shared an internal memo with Fox Business warning CBP officers to “report any possible armed subjects approaching the border with possible explosive devices”:
The IEDs were found by Mexican authorities after Tucson border patrol observed gunshots at the U.S.-Mexico border and a Tucson supervisory border patrol agent arrested an armed person on the U.S. side who had a loaded AK-47 rifle, two loaded AK magazines, loose rounds and a handgun.
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CBP's warning comes as Republicans are pushing for increased border safety measures to be included in President Biden's $106 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine.
GOP border hawks have demanded that any aid package include the entirety of H.R. 2 — the House signature legislation passed in the chamber this year which ramps up border security, restarts border wall construction, brings back the Remain-in-Mexico policy and limits the use of asylum and humanitarian parole among other sweeping changes.
However, President Biden and Senate Democrats have rejected the sweeping border security bill, claiming that it would “cut off nearly all access to humanitarian protections in ways that are inconsistent with our Nation's values and international obligations.”
The Tucson Sector has had more migrant encounters than any other sector on the U.S.-Mexico border for the past four months. Border patrol recorded 2.4 million migrant encounters across the entire southern border this fiscal year – the highest number ever.
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