Mexico’s government has formally rejected a move by the Texas General Land Office to claim nine islands in the Rio Grande, territory state officials say has long served as a staging ground for cartel smuggling operations.
The GLO, led by Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, announced it was asserting Texas control over the nine islands, located primarily in the Starr County area near Fronton, Texas, and totaling about 66 acres. The stated goal was to allow U.S. and Texas law enforcement to patrol and secure the land, cutting off a route cartels have used to move drugs and migrants across the border.
“Texas land will never become a safe haven for cartels, human traffickers, smugglers, or other criminal organizations,” Buckingham said in a statement announcing the claim.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry responded with a statement arguing that Texas has no legal authority to set or redraw the international boundary. The ministry pointed to a 1970 binational treaty that it says fixes the border between the two countries, and said only the federal governments of the United States and Mexico have the power to make such determinations. Mexico’s government said it intends to pursue the matter to ensure the treaty is honored.
A History of Cartel Activity
The islands at the center of the dispute have been used by the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel Del Noreste faction to run drug shipments north, according to prior reporting by Breitbart Texas.
In 2025, gunmen from Los Zetas used one of the islands near Fronton as cover while firing on U.S. law enforcement. The gunmen escaped south across the river after what was described as a poor response from Mexican authorities. The next day, authorities searched the island and discovered a narco-camp that had been used by the gunmen to provide security for smuggling operations.
The standoff between Austin and Mexico City now leaves unresolved who holds authority over a stretch of river land with a documented history of cartel use, even as both governments stake competing claims to it.
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