Cartel Lookouts and Drones Test Border Patrol on Ranchland East of El Paso, Agents Say
On a ride-along near Fort Hancock, agents say new fencing has pushed smugglers onto rural routes toward I-10 and that crossing fees have jumped to $10,000 to $15,000 a person.
Border Report's Aracely Lazcano spent a morning with Border Patrol's El Paso Sector near Fort Hancock and Clint, Texas, on what the outlet says was the first media ride-along since a federal shutdown paused them early this year. The agents' account is a look at the cat-and-mouse game along the river.
The ground. Agent Jose Navarro says the border is about half a mile south of the patrol spot and Interstate 10 about a mile north, so agents have only minutes to reach people before smugglers move them to stash houses. He says about 90% of the sector's manpower is on the border, backed by the Department of War and the Texas Department of Public Safety under Operation Lone Star.
Lookouts and drones. "We're always going to have cartel members keeping track of where our agents are patrolling," Navarro says. Agent Araceli Hernandez says Border Patrol uses helicopters, drones and ground sensors, and that smugglers use drones too. Agents also follow footprints, and smugglers sweep tracks away with branches, a practice agents call a "brush out." Disturbed soil gives it away, Hernandez says.
A shift in routes. Navarro says new and replacement barriers elsewhere in the sector have pushed activity toward ranchland near Clint and Fort Hancock, where some stretches have lower barriers topped with concertina wire instead of 30-foot steel fencing. Agents also say they now see more younger men, which they attribute to the physical demands of climbing the barriers. Navarro estimates smugglers now charge $10,000 to $15,000 per person per crossing, up from about $3,000 three years ago, which he links to greater enforcement pressure.
Abuse in stash houses. Agents described confinement and extortion on both sides of the river, with smugglers sometimes bringing part of a family across and holding relatives in Mexico for more money. Border Report cites a Treasury announcement saying La Línea and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel work together in the Juárez Valley. A DHS alert has also warned of a possible kidnapping plot against Customs and Border Protection personnel in El Paso and Presidio. It concerned a possible plot, not a confirmed kidnapping.
The numbers. Border Report cites new CBP figures: 98,708 arrests for illegal crossings on the Southwest border in fiscal year 2026, against 237,538 the year before and 1.5 million in fiscal 2024. The outlet calls this a "nearly 165%" drop, but those figures work out to a drop of about 58% from the prior year.
Note for readers: this report ran Oct. 16, so it is a few days older than most of today's stories. The cost and route claims are agents' own estimates, not independent data.