{"id":475502,"date":"2026-10-24T14:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T14:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/475502\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T14:46:31","slug":"cbp-highlights-end-of-year-border-security-successes-in-el-paso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/475502\/","title":{"rendered":"CBP Highlights End-of-Year Border Security Successes in El Paso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/BP-EP-Year.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1068\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/BP-EP-Year.jpg\" alt=\"CBP El Paso Field Office Director Ray Provencio spoke about a significant increase in narcotics seizures at ports of entry in the past year. He also discussed weapons, ammunition, and illicit currency seizures. USCBP images\" class=\"wp-image-218774\"  \/><\/a>CBP El Paso Field Office Director Ray Provencio spoke about a significant increase in narcotics seizures at ports of entry in the past year. He also discussed weapons, ammunition, and illicit currency seizures. USCBP images<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-vivid-red-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\">Texas Border Business<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">EL PASO, Texas \u2013\u00a0U.S. Customs and Border Protection El Paso leadership held a press conference\u00a0at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry Friday, highlighting end of fiscal year border security successes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CBP El Paso Field Office Director Ray Provencio spoke about a significant increase in narcotics seizures at ports of entry in the past year. He also discussed weapons, ammunition, and illicit currency seizures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are seizing two to three times more narcotics\u00a0in some categories during inspections this fiscal year when compared to last year. Our CBP officers are also conducting southbound inspections to interdict illicit currency from narcotics sales, firearms and ammunition to deny the Mexican drug cartels arms and revenue,\u201d said Director Provencio. \u201cMexican cartels operating south of the border in our region have been declared Foreign Terrorist Organizations and anyone aiding or working for them can now be charged with material support for a terrorist organization (18 U.S. Code \u00a7 2339). Along with our other CBP components, the Homeland Security Joint Task Force, and our Department of Justice partners, we are taking a whole-of-government approach to dismantle the illegal activities of these drug cartels and other criminal organizations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Provencio credited the skills of his CBP officers, nonintrusive inspection technology, low energy portals and canine teams for discovering and seizing more narcotics at the ports of entry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Jesse Munoz said increased border security measures, stronger enforcement of Title 8 immigration laws, and more manpower along the border \u2013 including Border Patrol agents and Department of War military personnel \u2013 have resulted in a dramatic decrease in illegal border crossing in the Border Patrol\u2019s El Paso Sector in 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More infrastructure, including new border barrier and surveillance technology, have also helped Border Patrol agents during border security operations. Chief Munoz credits these measures with reducing illegal border crossings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn Fiscal Year 2023, El Paso Sector was seeing 2,700 encounters per day. Today the Sector is averaging less than 50 encounters per day,\u201d said Chief Munoz. \u201cOur known got-away numbers are down to single digits. We have not released any illegal aliens into the interior of the country in last 17 months. We are seeing the most secure border in the history of our nation.\u201d El Paso Sector recorded less than 20,000 apprehensions in FY 2026, compared with more than 420,000 in FY 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chief Munoz also spoke about how Border Patrol agents have been using a multilayered enforcement strategy, which includes agents deployed along the border, anti-smuggling units that dismantle human smuggling transportation networks, and interior checkpoints to prevent illegal aliens and narcotics from being transported further into the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CBP Air and Marine Operations El Paso Director Efren Gonzalez discussed how AMO has secured the border, conducted humanitarian rescues, and provided air support to law enforcement partners during joint operations. During FY 2026, AMO\u2019s El Paso Air Branch personnel supported operations resulting in more than 2,000 apprehensions, 10 arrests, and nine rescues. Even with fewer apprehensions, El Paso Air Branch achieved significantly more narcotics, currency, weapons, and vehicle seizure results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection El Paso leadership held a press conference at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry Friday, highlighting end of fiscal year border security successes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEl Paso Air Branch increased total narcotics seizures by more than 700% in Fiscal Year 2026, delivering a significant blow to transnational criminal organizations,\u201d said Director Gonzalez. \u201cWith the Homeland Security Task Force\u2019s support, we are bringing together the full capabilities of our federal, state, local, tribal, and international partners to find cartels, disrupt their operations, seize their drugs and illicit proceeds, and deny them the ability to profit from criminal activity that threatens American communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CBP El Paso Field Office Director Ray Provencio spoke about a significant increase in narcotics seizures at ports&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2668,65784,138,140,139,72277,161047,18787],"class_list":["post-475502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-border-security","tag-drug-smuggling","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-el-paso-sector","tag-illegal-weapons","tag-us-customs-and-border-protection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}