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Earlier this week, suspected Mexican drug cartel gunmen fired on U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas, who fired back. This took place on a strip of land in the middle of the Rio Grande called Fronton Island, also known as “Cartel Island” because it was previously used as a staging area for cartel smuggling operations. Texas authorities took over the island as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star and declared it Texas territory in November 2023.

The incident illustrates why it’s time to start treating Mexico as a hostile foreign power that represents a direct threat to the American homeland — not just for the way the Mexican state has facilitated and encouraged illegal immigration, but also because it has allowed the cartels to take control of vast swaths of Mexican territory, infiltrate the Mexican government at the highest levels, and carry out sophisticated operations on both sides of the Rio Grande.

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