Cartel Shooting at Border Patrol: CJNG Orders, Bounties, Shootouts

Mexican drug cartels have escalated their attacks on U.S. Border Patrol agents in recent years, and cartel shootings at Border Patrol now range from cross-border gunfire ordered by cartel leadership to roadside shootouts during smuggling stops and a tiered bounty system paying up to $50,000 for the killing of federal officers. Two agencies have confirmed the pattern: the FBI circulated intelligence in early 2026 about a cartel directive to shoot at agents from Mexico, and the Department of Homeland Security has publicly described an organized bounty program targeting ICE and CBP personnel.

The CJNG Order To Shoot at Agents From Mexico

In early 2026, FBI intelligence indicated that leadership of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) had ordered members to shoot at U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from the Mexican side of the border. The directive reached Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector through a situational awareness memo.¹

According to the memo, CJNG told members to carry out the attacks specifically in areas of Mexico the cartel does not control. Analysts read the move as an attempt to draw U.S. law enforcement scrutiny and retribution toward the Sinaloa Cartel, which runs the smuggling corridor across from the San Diego segment.²

Retired Border Patrol sector chief Chris Clem said agents along the entire southwestern border should stay on high alert even though the alert named San Diego, and that Border Patrol would coordinate with U.S. city police to warn residents about gunfire crossing into American territory if the intelligence held up.¹ As of available reporting, no confirmed shootings in the San Diego Sector have been publicly linked to the directive.

Bounties on ICE and Border Patrol Officers

DHS has said Mexican cartels operate a structured payment system for violence against federal immigration officers. The tiers run roughly $2,000 for intelligence gathering and doxxing, $5,000 to $10,000 for a kidnapping or non-lethal assault, and up to $50,000 for the assassination of a high-ranking official.³

A separate federal memo obtained by NewsNation in November 2025 warned of a $10,000 bounty out of northern Sonora for anyone who fired at Border Patrol agents. The alert was specific to the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas and cautioned that assailants might wear Mexican military uniforms and carry long arms or machine guns. Stations in Brownsville and Kingsville were named as initial targets.⁴

Domestic gangs have acted on cartel incentives in at least one prosecuted case. Federal prosecutors charged a Chicago member of the Latin Kings with placing a bounty on CBP Commander Greg Bovino, who oversees immigration surge operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland. DHS said the Latin Kings deployed armed spotters with radios to track federal agents in real time. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called the pattern an “organized campaign of terror” involving ambushes, drone surveillance, and death threats.⁵

Recent Shootouts Between Border Patrol and Cartel Members

Fronton Island, Texas — January 27, 2025

Suspected cartel members opened fire on Border Patrol agents near Fronton Island, a disputed strip of land in the Rio Grande River in the Rio Grande Valley, around 1:30 p.m. as a group of migrants tried to cross. DHS identified the gunmen as cartel members running a smuggling operation.⁶

A single Border Patrol agent returned one shot toward the Mexican side. Texas Department of Public Safety drone operators tracked the gunmen as they fled to the island; video showed at least four armed individuals. No one was hurt on either side, and the migrants did not enter the United States.⁷

The site had been the target of Texas’s “Operation Flat Top,” a state initiative to clear the island and lay razor wire against cartel crossings. CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the DHS Office of Inspector General, and the FBI all responded. No arrests were publicly reported, and Mexican officials had not commented as of available reporting.⁸

Arivaca, Arizona — January 27, 2026

Federal agents tried to stop a vehicle about 10 miles north of the border near Arivaca on suspicion of human smuggling. The driver, 34-year-old Patrick Gary Schlegel of Sahuarita, Arizona, ran on foot and fired a handgun at a CBP Air and Marine Operations helicopter and at agents on the ground. Agents returned fire, hitting Schlegel in the leg and head. He survived and was reported in serious but stable condition after surgery.⁹

Schlegel, a U.S. citizen, was already wanted on a federal warrant for escape tied to a prior alien smuggling conviction. A federal grand jury in Tucson indicted him on five counts, including attempted murder of a federal officer, assault on a federal officer, transportation of unauthorized immigrants for profit, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. The attempted murder count alone carries up to 20 years.¹⁰ The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is leading the use-of-force investigation into the agents, and the sheriff said investigators believe they acted lawfully.¹¹

Why Cartels Shoot at Agents

Senior Border Patrol agents told the House Committee on Homeland Security that cartels maintain near-total operational control over who crosses the border and when. Sinaloa, CJNG, and the Noreste Cartel use coordinated mass crossings of hundreds of people to overwhelm agents; while Border Patrol is pulled off to process or rescue groups, cartels move drugs, weapons, or high-value smuggling clients through unmonitored gaps.¹²

The money is large. Land crossings in the San Diego Sector average $8,000 to $12,000 per person, and water crossings run $12,000 to $20,000. Cartels use drones to track shift changes and patrol patterns, and they beat, torture, or execute people who cross without paying.¹²

Shooting at agents fits inside that business. It protects an active load, as at Fronton. It can be a territorial move, as with the CJNG order that put the heat on Sinaloa’s corridor. And it signals to agents and rivals alike who controls the ground.

When Border Patrol Agents Can Shoot Back

CBP’s use-of-force policy, updated in January 2021, allows deadly force only when an agent has a reasonable belief that a subject poses an imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. Agents don’t have to retreat before using reasonable force, but they must try to de-escalate when it is safe and feasible. Firing at moving vehicles solely to disable them, or at fleeing subjects solely to prevent escape, is prohibited.¹³

At border barriers, agents can use objectively reasonable force against people damaging boundary infrastructure, but deadly force is not permitted “solely in defense of” a barrier absent an imminent threat to life. Agents also have a duty to step in and stop excessive force by other agents, with discipline for those who don’t.¹³

The Federal Response

The Trump administration designated CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, which widens the legal tools available against cartel members and their money networks.¹ On February 1, 2025, the president expanded a national emergency to address what the administration called Mexico’s failure to intercept trafficking organizations, and under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act imposed a 25 percent tariff on all Mexican imports effective February 4, 2025, to remain until Mexico takes steps the administration considers adequate.¹⁴

Mexico expelled 55 drug traffickers to the United States in 2025 to face charges, though no new joint operations specifically aimed at the shooting threats have been announced. The federal government has also tried to deploy National Guard troops to U.S. cities where immigration enforcement faces cartel-linked threats, with legal challenges slowing that effort in some places.³

Not Every Attack on an Agent Is Cartel-Linked

Fatal attacks on Border Patrol agents don’t always trace back to cartels. On January 20, 2025, Agent David “Chris” Maland was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont. The shooter, Teresa Youngblut, fired four rounds at agents after being asked to exit a vehicle; Maland was hit in the neck and died at a hospital. An agent returned fire, wounding Youngblut and killing her passenger, Felix Bauckholt, a German national who had tried to draw a weapon. Both were members of a group known as the “Zizians.” Youngblut was indicted on federal charges including assault with a deadly weapon, has pleaded not guilty, and federal prosecutors have filed notice of intent to seek the death penalty.¹⁵¹⁶

1
NewsNation. Cartel Orders Members To Shoot at Border Patrol
2
Small Wars Journal. Mexican Cartel Authorizes Attacks on Border Patrol Agents
3
ABC News. Cartels Issuing Bounties Up to $50,000 for Hits on ICE, CBP Agents
4
The Hill. Cartels Offering Bounties on CBP Border Patrol Agents
5
Police1. DHS: Cartels Offering Up to $50K Bounties To Harm or Kill ICE, CBP Officers
6
San Antonio News. Border Patrol, Mexican Cartel Exchange Gunfire Amid Ramped Up Security
7
New York Post. US Border Patrol and Mexican Cartel Members Trade Gunfire at Southern Border
8
Fox San Antonio. Border Patrol Agents Allegedly Shot at From Mexico on Disputed Land
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NBC News. Person Shot in Incident Involving Border Patrol in Arizona
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Tucson Man Who Shot Border Patrol Helicopter Indicted for Attempted Murder of Federal Officer
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CNN. Person Shot in Incident Involving Border Patrol in Arizona
12
House Committee on Homeland Security. Senior Border Patrol Agents Describe Unprecedented Cartel Control at Southwest Border
13
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Use of Force Policy
14
The White House. Imposing Duties To Address the Situation at Our Southern Border
15
MyNBC5. Documents Unveil New Details in Fatal Shooting of Border Patrol Agent David Chris Maland
16
VTDigger. Vermont Officials Identify US Border Patrol Agent Killed in Coventry