America’s borders are constantly operational as people and goods enter and leave the country, posing a challenge to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities, who must ensure that only authorized people and legitimate cargo enter and leave the country. The extent of the challenges they face, especially land crossings between the U.S. and Mexico, provides cartels with many exploitable opportunities to move illicit cargo, such as narcotics, into the country.

The cartels’ effectiveness at bypassing American border controls and bringing tons of illicit drugs into the country hinges on their advanced intelligence capabilities that provide them with up-to-date information on the processes and procedures border personnel follow. Even when processes and people change, the cartels are aware of the situation and adapt in real time, streamlining their strategic exploitation of America’s highly pressured southern border.

The intelligence capabilities of the cartels do not only apply to the Mexican side of the border, but also to the capabilities and capacity of U.S. border authorities and the drug detection processes employed on the American side. This empowers them to expertly manage the situation and bring their cargo across the border at will.

To illustrate the magnitude of the environment border authorities operate in, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that the total value of U.S. international trade reached $5.3 trillion in 2024 (tinyurl.com/4nh8x7rj). Specifically, when examining truck and rail imports crossing the southern border, $609 billion of goods entered the country by truck, while $98 billion was transported by rail. Over 5.9 million trucks, 39 million personal vehicles and more than 20 million pedestrians crossed the southern border last year (tinyurl.com/53scycpm).

Attempting the impossible

When averaging the above figures, the U.S. sees over 16,000 trucks and 100,000 personal vehicles crossing the southern border daily, with different peak hours for each. The cartels realize that border operators cannot thoroughly check every vehicle that enters the country, and they actively capitalize on the chaos.

That’s not to say that no narcotics are stopped. Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl are the most common drugs seized at the borders, comprising 84% of all seizures at the southern border (tinyurl.com/6a4h8by6). But this is only the tip of the iceberg, as most of the drugs move through border controls to be distributed throughout the U.S.

The key to the cartels’ success is an extensive human intelligence (HUMINT) network and expert manufacturing skills. Due to the cartels’ almost unlimited funds, they have developed a highly advanced intelligence operation to protect their businesses that rivals the most advanced countries in the world. Drone incursions into American airspace to track the movement of CBP and police teams, for example, have become common (tinyurl.com/4tu6e6n3).

Their operatives are deeply embedded in various Mexican industries, from telecommunications to manufacturing and transportation. They are tasked with relaying any relevant information that the cartels could use to manage their own risks, pivot their smuggling processes or implement “tactics” to take care of imminent threats. Additionally, many operate in vehicle manufacturing or servicing businesses to assist in designing hidden compartments in vehicles or trucks, known as “traps.” Others work for exporters to conceal drugs in legitimate shipments for the cartels.

Even if business owners do not wish to cooperate with the cartels, refusing to do so is unwise. Pablo Escobar’s famous quote, “plata o plomo,” which translates to “silver or lead,” still applies (tinyurl.com/yf4dc3cd). You can take the silver (money) for cooperating or the lead (a bullet) for opposing the cartels.

The cartels’ HUMINT tentacles also extend deep into Mexican law enforcement and border authorities. They often know of new policing objectives and tactics as soon as the officials do. This allows them to pivot their smuggling strategies and tactics. They can also easily discover the identities of informants who may be providing law enforcement with information on couriers or drug shipments.

The cartels use a technique called “shotgunning” to send hundreds of cars or trucks with illicit cargo hidden among legitimate goods across the border at peak times. They ensure that a few vehicles are “tainted” with detectable traces of drugs so that the border operators, using K-9s, pick up a scent. 

When this happens, CBP teams pull these vehicles aside to inspect them, taking resources away from the border operations. The result is that some drugs are found, but many others have free access to the country because personnel are focused on the inspection.

Once the drugs are through the border post, secondary checkpoints are sometimes set up on America’s roads in an attempt to catch those who escaped the first border check. Once again, these checkpoints have limited impact because of resource limitations.

The domestic consequences

The drug supply chain does not end at the border, and the impact of the cartels’ superb intelligence, transportation and logistics capabilities is felt deep within American cities. Once inside the country, the drugs are warehoused, and domestic gangs cut, repackage and distribute them throughout the country. The results are well known, with the current opioid crisis being referred to as the “opioid overdose epidemic,” primarily driven by fentanyl fatalities (tinyurl.com/ytjmr7hy). 

These consequences are primarily felt in the inner cities and mainly among African American communities, which suffer higher addiction (tinyurl.com/55axehde) and mortality rates (tinyurl.com/3xu3rf3v) than other demographics. All communities face the scourge of addiction, but poorer areas are the hardest hit. Law enforcement and counter-narcotics agents sometimes become entangled in inner-city issues and are sometimes accused of either not doing enough or being too aggressive. Part of the war on drugs must, therefore, include social structures and strategies to assist these communities and degrade the demand side of the supply chain.

Increased resources required to stop drug shipments

One of the main options law enforcement must use to mitigate cross-border drug shipments is to increase the number and effectiveness of their inspection operations at the border. This will require a technology upgrade to enhance searches and more specially trained search inspectors and narcotic K-9s for the job. They also require enhanced intelligence capabilities to identify suspect vehicles before they reach the border.

Given the volume of commercial products transported into the country daily, intelligence is a critical tool — as the cartels know. The CIA is already using unarmed MQ-9 Reaper drones to spy on drug cartels in Mexico — in collaboration with the Mexican government (tinyurl.com/y4eyjy85). This needs to be enhanced by additional human intelligence-gathering on the ground, which is naturally very dangerous given the cartels’ penchant for extreme violence.

From a technology perspective, newer capabilities that provide more in-depth insights into hidden cargo must be deployed at border crossings. Traditional X-ray technology cannot always “see” through containers and metal components in enough detail. 

Additionally, modern handheld presumptive analysis technology that allows officers to identify an unknown substance within minutes of finding it, without touching or unpacking it, must also be deployed at every border post and secondary checkpoint. This will assist with the accurate classification of unknown material and rapidly dismiss false alarms. 

If officers have access to these capabilities, any unknown material found can be scanned immediately, even if it is wrapped in clear packaging, accurately identifying the substance on the scene. The fact that officers do not need to handle unknown matters, such as narcotics, explosives, or innocuous substances, protects them from potential contamination.

How far is America prepared to go?

The most effective way to significantly reduce cross-border drug smuggling by cartels is to reduce the number of vehicles that enter the country uninspected. The amount of “real” assistance the U.S. can expect from China and Mexico has yet to be determined. The U.S. must take the initiative and aggressively implement a new border strategy that does not heavily rely on the bilateral cooperation of other nations to secure its border. The catch is that this approach will have economic consequences for both sides of the border. 

Commercial traffic will slow down, but a possible technical solution is for manufacturers and transportation companies to use traceable high-tech containers. Once a container is loaded, its route is tracked to the border and beyond to its destination. Moreover, once loaded, each container is sealed with an electronic lock that notifies authorities of any tampering. Any diversions or alerts will result in a full (slow) container search before it is allowed to enter. Those agreeing to this monitoring could potentially be rewarded with an “express lane” at the border, through which registered cargo and drivers can move without delays.

The solution to the cartel invasion across the southern border may sound extreme, and it is. The cost will be high, but the U.S. is already paying a higher cost in the loss of life. There is no solution to the cartel cross-border narcotics threat that will not require a short-term sacrifice of the American people. Addressing the problem requires strategies and action beyond the norm, breaking the supply chain before drugs, especially fentanyl, enter the country. The alternative is to normalize over 100,000 overdose deaths per year and the social degradation that always accompanies high drug addiction rates (tinyurl.com/k4yr38p8).