Border feds in Arizona crack down on gun trafficking into Mexico

Versión en español

Nogales, Arizona – Federal law enforcement officials detailed the increased effort at the southern border in seizing weapons heading into Mexico from Arizona, announcing tougher measures against traffickers during a Friday morning news conference at the Mariposa Border Patrol Station in Nogales, Arizona.

The event featured an exhibition of hundreds of weapons, ammunition and grenades seized this past February, when Arizona border agents searched a vehicle heading to Mexico. On display were M2 rifles, Barrett .50 caliber weapons, AK-47s and handguns of various calibers.

“Weapon smuggling is not just a serious crime— it fuels violence on both sides of the border and severely undermines our nation’s laws,” said Ray Rede, Deputy Special Agent in Charge for HSI Arizona.

The event featured speakers from various federal and immigration enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix, Arizona, Field Division, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and detailed actions taken that adhere to one of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders designating certain Mexican and Latin American cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations. These include Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Cartel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the Gulf Cartel and Carteles Unidos.

The weapons presented during the event were seized along the southern border in a series of operations conducted by CBP and U.S. Border Patrol agents targeting southbound vehicular, pedestrian and commercial traffic at border ports.

Smugglers from other states bring in some of the weapons seized at the Nogales border crossings but the majority are from Arizona, Guadalupe Ramirez, director of field operations for the Tucson office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), told CALÓ News after the presser.

According to CBP data, border agents stationed at the Tucson Sector in Arizona have conducted 48 weapons and ammunition seizure events from October 2024 to March 2025 along the southern border — halting the illegal ground transportation of 32 handguns, two long arms and over 30,000 ammunition and gun parts heading from the U.S. into Mexico.

When asked which cartel the weapons crossing through Nogales were intended for, he responded: "If they enter here, they have to go to (the Sinaloa Cartel) because they're the ones in control here and they won't allow their area to be used as a place to transport weapons to another cartel."

However, according to Rede, most weapons can travel anywhere in the world.

Increased military presence at the southern border

Trump’s second term in office has been marked by an aggressive stance on the border and immigration, signing a flurry of executive orders that call for heavier immigration enforcement across the country in an effort to increase raids, detentions and eventual deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

Since February, Trump has approved sending troops into border zones and assisting Border Patrol agents. As of May, however, the U.S. Department of Defense has stepped up its presence in the southern border, designating two military zones along the U.S.-Mexico border in order to enforce immigration law — one in New Mexico and the most recent one in Texas.

On February 3, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo announced on her t X account that she had held a call with Trump and reached a series of agreements, including the immediate reinforcement of the northern border with 10,000 National Guard troops to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, particularly fentanyl.

She also announced that the United States was committed to working to prevent the trafficking of high-powered weapons to Mexico.

Soon after, Mexico’s Ministry of National Defense announced that more than 1,000 National Guard troops would arrive in the states of Sonora to be deployed in Nogales, Agua Prieta, Sonoyta, and San Luis Río Colorado.

On April 1, CBP said in a press release that March saw the lowest number of border crossings ever recorded.

“In March, Border Patrol data shows approximately 7,180 Southwest border crossings were recorded, a dramatic decrease from the monthly average of 155,000 over the previous four years. Daily apprehensions at the Southwest border have also decreased to approximately 230, a 95% reduction from the previous administration's daily average of 5,100,” the statement read.

César Barrón is an independent reporter covering the transnational communities of Ambos Nogales. He has over 20 years of experience covering the Sonoran communities.