Local authorities have confirmed reports of armed attacks against agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). According to information from the Municipal Public Security Secretariat (SSPM), individuals attempting to cross illegally into U.S. territory were responsible for the incident. “There were several calls about shots fired at a Border Patrol vehicle, and now there is an operation at marker 5. We are working together with the Border Patrol to find out what happened,” reported César Omar Muñoz, Secretary of Public Security. Following the attack, agents from the Municipal Police, the Mexican Army, and the National Guard were deployed at various points along the border, while the U.S. CBP activated reinforced security protocols with ground and air patrols. Detainees were reported on the U.S. side, while in Mexico, police obtained a search warrant for a residence where the suspects were allegedly hiding. The incident occurs amid border tension marked by recent alerts in the U.S. about a possible increase in violence in the region, as well as by the increase in operations by both governments to contain human and drug trafficking, with the presence of helicopters and tactical vehicles on the wall dividing the two countries. “Ciudad Juárez, or the northern zone of the country, has been a victim of violence related to human trafficking, drug trafficking, smuggling, and other things, but it has been a stable level of violence. I don't see that it has intensified,” commented Óscar Maynez Grijalva, a professor at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. In previous weeks, shots fired and chases linked to migrant trafficking were reported, as well as a case in which a shot from the U.S. side was reported, still under investigation.
