176 Weapons Seizures in Texas in 2026. Where and Which Way.

From January through April of this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection logged 176 weapons and ammunition seizures across Texas's eight border enforcement areas. The Texas Border Examiner pulled every weapons and ammunition seizure CBP recorded in the Texas field offices and Border Patrol sectors through the agency's public seizure data.

At the ports: 123 seizures, mostly southbound

CBP records a direction only at the ports of entry, run by the Houston, Laredo, and El Paso field offices. Officers there made 123 of the 176 seizures, 89 on vehicles headed south into Mexico and 26 on vehicles headed north into the United States. Eight had no direction recorded. In January, officers made 16 southbound seizures and 8 northbound. February brought 20 southbound and 7 northbound, March 20 and 6, and April 33 and 5. The southbound count doubled over the quarter while the northbound count fell every month, from 8 in January to 5 in April. The southbound stops also held more. Across the quarter, southbound seizures yielded 14,255 rounds of ammunition, 179 firearms, and 298 magazines. Northbound seizures yielded 2,805 rounds, 18 firearms, and 29 magazines.

Laredo Field Office: 84 seizures

Laredo accounted for 84 of the 176 seizures, more than the other seven areas combined, and 63 of its 84 were southbound. The division grew every month, from 16 in January to 19 in February, 24 in March, and 25 in April. El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley sector tied for second at 24 each. El Paso split evenly, 12 southbound and 12 northbound, the only area without a clear direction. The Rio Grande Valley sector jumped from 4 cases in January and 3 in February to 13 in March, then back to 4 in April. Houston filed 15, 14 of them southbound, but recorded zero in March. Del Rio had 10, Big Bend 9, the El Paso sector 6, and the Laredo sector 4. The five Border Patrol sectors carry no direction; CBP attaches inbound or outbound only at the ports.

What officers seized

Ammunition made up the bulk by volume, 19,086 rounds across the quarter. Officers also seized 263 firearms, 214 of them handguns and 49 long guns, along with 369 magazines, 32 gun parts, 11 scopes, 8 cases, 2 silencers, and 1 receiver. One seizure at the El Paso Field Office in March held 3,101 rounds, about a sixth of all the ammunition seized over the four months. Nine seizures held 500 rounds or more. Half of all seizures held 21 items or fewer, and a third held 10 or fewer.

What the numbers show

Weapons seizures in Texas rose from 37 in January to 55 in April, a 49 percent increase over the quarter. The climb came almost entirely from southbound traffic at the ports, which doubled from 16 to 33, and from the Laredo Field Office, which grew from 16 to 25. Northbound seizures moved the other way, falling from 8 to 5. The 176 total is the lowest January-to-April figure in the four years CBP publishes, down from 235 in 2025 and 307 in 2024. Firearms fell from 566 in early 2024 to 263 this year. By U.S. Customs and Border Protection - Border Patrol agents seize handguns, rifle, more than 200 rounds of ammo