Border Patrol Seizes 134+ Acres In Rio Grande City, TX

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Earlier today I brought you this report that the airspace around El Paso, TX was abruptly closed by the FAA for ten days!

Full report here in case you missed it:

BREAKING: The FAA Abruptly Closes Texas Airspace For TEN DAYS!

Now comes news that Border Patrol just seized 134+ acres of land in Rio Grande City, TX that was being used by a drug cartel for smuggling operations!

More on that here:

Directly from the CBP:

This begs the obvious question of whether these two massive breaking news operations both involving Texas are related in any way….

And according to Grok there is no relation, just two huge stories coming out of Texas:

Separation of Events: Rio Grande Valley Seizure and El Paso Airspace Shutdown

No, the seizure of cartel-controlled land in the Rio Grande Valley Sector is not related to the El Paso airspace shutdown this morning.

Rio Grande Valley Land Seizure

The land seizure occurred in the Rio Grande Valley area near Rio Grande City, Texas—roughly 600 miles southeast of El Paso. It involved U.S. Border Patrol (CBP’s RGV Sector) taking control of over 134 acres used by the Gulf Cartel(specifically noted as the “Westside Gulf Cartel” in some reports) for drug and migrant smuggling.

Official CBP announcements and videos emphasized:

  • Arrests and asset forfeiture.

  • A strong message to cartels: “We took the land and everything on it… Keep smuggling, lose everything.”

This appears to be a targeted enforcement action focused on dismantling smuggling infrastructure in that specific sector.

El Paso Airspace Shutdown

The El Paso airspace issue, which began late February 10 (around 11:30 p.m. MST) and affected El Paso International Airport plus nearby areas like Santa Teresa, New Mexico, was a temporary flight restriction issued by the FAA for “special security reasons.”

  • Timeline: It initially was set for 10 days but was lifted within hours on February 11 morning, with flights resuming normally.

  • Cause: Official explanations from the Trump administration, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, White House/Pentagon sources, and media reports tied it to drone activity—specifically Mexican cartel-operated drones breaching U.S. airspace near El Paso.

  • Response: The U.S. military (referred to in some accounts as the Department of War) neutralized/disabled the drones using electronic warfare or counter-drone tech.

There were conflicting early reports (some suggested DoD counter-drone testing), but the dominant narrative points to a cartel drone incursion as the trigger.

Conclusion

No credible reports, official statements, or connections in news coverage link the two events. They occurred in distant border regions with different operational focuses:

  1. One is ground-based asset seizure and anti-smuggling in South Texas.

  2. The other is an airspace security response to aerial threats in far West Texas.

Speculation on X (like potential cartel retaliation) exists but lacks evidence tying them directly. These seem to be separate escalations in border security operations.



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