Texas has successfully curtailed cartel presence and criminal activity on an uninhabited border island after declaring it state property last year.
Fronton Island—located in Starr County and sitting in the Rio Grande—was once a hotspot for cartel activity. As part of Operation Lone Star, Texas law enforcement cleared it out.
Texas Department of Public Safety Spokesman Chris Olivarez said that due to the combined efforts of the General Land Office, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, Texas DPS, and the Texas National Guard, human smuggling and other criminal enterprises that once flourished on the island have come to an abrupt halt.
“The 170-acre island had been a foothold for the Mexican Cartels to carry out their criminal activities – human & drug smuggling for decades,” Olivarez said on X. Now, that activity is virtually nonexistent.
