Over 257 armored vehicles from cartels were seized by the Mexican police near the U.S. border, the Border Report revealed.
In a statement released from the Tamaulipas attorney general’s office, some of the vehicles seized resembled military tanks and machine gun ports while others were destroyed and at government impound lots.
According to the Border Report, the destroyed vehicles resembled semi-trucks, tow trucks and ordinary pickups with steel panels welded to their exteriors.
“The modifications applied to these vehicles represent a danger to the safety of law enforcement agencies and the community in general,” the Mexican state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement, according to the Border Report.
The report also claimed the state police recently carried out an operation, destroying 23 vehicles, known as “monsters,” from the Gulf cartel, Zetas and Northeast cartel using cranes and blow torches.
The vehicles were reportedly assigned to areas known for drug trafficking and cartel violence when the state police’s Special Operations Group (GOPES) confiscated them.
Moreover, more vehicles were seized on March 12 after they were abandoned near the San Fernando-Reynosa highway.
Another 14 vehicles were also seized and four of them were used for a crime in a Reynosa body shop when arresting a man on homicide charges a month before.
All these incidents took place after the Biden administration junked other Trump-era immigration policies. However, Biden’s indecision whether to scrap a key Trump-era immigration policy, “Remain in Mexico” remains as the border crisis continues to escalate.
“I think the Biden administration is being overly cautious with regards to ending the program as they don’t want to have anything to happen at the southern border that would seem that things were out of control. Politically, that would not be a great thing with the midterms coming up and his approval ratings being so low,” American Immigration Lawyers Association Immediate Past President Allen Orr said.
“I also think that he has been working with private and public partnerships to sort of address the immigration issue as we’ve seen an agreement reached with Mexico just a few weeks ago, where they were going to put millions of dollars into helping ensure an orderly border between the United States and Mexico,” he added.
