Most weapons seized at Texas border crossings this year were headed out of the country

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizure data records 176 weapons and ammunition seizures across Texas from January 1 through April 30, 2026. CBP officers and Border Patrol agents made those seizures across eight enforcement areas in the state. CBP records a direction only at the ports of entry, where officers inspect vehicles moving both ways. Officers made 123 of the 176 seizures at those crossings. They stopped 89 shipments headed south into Mexico and 26 headed north into the United States. Eight had no recorded direction. Border Patrol agents made the other 53 seizures between the crossings, where CBP records no direction.

The southbound count beat the northbound count in each of the past four years. CBP runs outbound inspections through its Office of Field Operations to target firearms, currency, and other contraband leaving the country. In a March 2025 case, officers at the Del Rio International Bridge pulled a southbound pickup and found 16 weapons, 26 magazines, and 182 rounds. The 176 seizures are the lowest January-to-April total in the four years of CBP data. The figure was 235 over the same months in 2025 and 307 in 2024. Firearms seizures fell from 566 in early 2024 to 263 this year. Ammunition fell further. A seizure count reflects both smuggling and the volume of traffic officers screen, so a lower count does not establish less trafficking on its own. CBP's fiscal year began on October 1. Officers logged 53 seizures in October, 52 in November, and 61 in December. The count fell to 37 in January, then rose to 35 in February, 49 in March, and 55 in April. The Laredo Field Office made 84 of the 176 seizures, the most of any area in the state. It has ranked first in Texas in each of the past four years. The El Paso Field Office and the Rio Grande Valley sector tied for second at 24 each. The Houston Field Office made 15. The Del Rio sector made 10, Big Bend 9, the El Paso sector 6, and the Laredo sector 4.

Ammunition accounted for most of the volume at 19,086 rounds. Officers seized 263 firearms, 214 of them handguns and 49 long guns. They also seized 369 magazines, 32 gun parts, 11 scopes, 8 cases, 2 silencers, and 1 receiver. The data covers the eight Texas-based field offices and Border Patrol sectors. Four reach past the state line: the El Paso Field Office and the El Paso sector also cover all of New Mexico, and the Houston Field Office and the Big Bend sector extend into Oklahoma. CBP draws the figures from live systems and revises them as it reviews records, so the FY2026 totals are preliminary. By CBP Photography - U.S. Border Patrol arrests aliens illegally entering the United States