(The Center Square) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at eight south Texas ports of entry in the Laredo Sector seized 62% more narcotics in one year, according to new CBP data.
They also apprehended nearly 90,000 people, the majority of whom were single men.
CBP Laredo Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers seized 71,733 pounds of narcotics with an estimated street value of nearly $674 million in fiscal 2025. They also seized 3,453 pounds of marijuana, 12,397 pounds of cocaine, 54,994 pounds of methamphetamine, nearly 236 pounds of heroin and 196 pounds of fentanyl, according to newly released CBP data.
The combined seizure of cocaine, heroin, meth and fentanyl represents a 62% increase in hard narcotics seizures over the year, CBP said. The fiscal year goes from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
“Our frontline CBP officers did a fantastic job in FY 2025, amassing an impressive 62 percent increase in hard narcotics seized compared to the previous fiscal year,” CBP Director of Field Operations-Laredo, Donald Kusser, said. “These impressive totals tell the real story, the dedication of our officers to the border security mission, and their effective deployment of officer experience, technology, canines, and targeting to help keep our borders safe.”
In fiscal 2025, CBP Laredo OFO officers also apprehended the greatest number of illegal border crossers along the southwest border of nearly 90,000.
In October, The Center Square first reported they apprehended 87,468. That number has since been revised to 89,038, according to newly released CBP data.
The total represents “a significant decrease compared to the previous year, reflecting the elimination of CBP One and a robust immigration enforcement posture under the Trump administration,” Kusser said.
The majority apprehended were single adults from countries from all over the world, followed by Mexican nationals, according to CBP data.
Laredo CBP OFO officers also seized $5.4 million in unreported currency, 514 weapons, and 54,896 rounds of ammunition in fiscal 2025. CBP agriculture specialists also intercepted 88,060 items of quarantine animal and plant material and 1,791 pests, Kusser said.
This fiscal year, their work continues, with CBP regularly announcing major drugs, weapons and ammunition busts and arrests of child sex offenders and human traffickers.
Border criminal activity generally involves smuggling people and drugs north into the U.S. and smuggling cash and weapons south, law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square. The busts they made follow this pattern, including arresting illegal border crossers and drug smugglers inbound and seizing weapons and cash heading outbound.
In October, at the beginning of fiscal 2026, CBP Laredo OFO officers arrested four wanted sex offenders in 72 hours, The Center Square reported. On Thanksgiving, they arrested a man wanted by Waukegan, Ill., police for aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor and arrested a man wanted by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office for a child sex offense at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge. More recently, they arrested a woman at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge wanted in Bexar County on warrants for multiple child sex offenses.
Earlier this month, they uncovered 30 pistols and 61 magazines of various calibers hidden inside a vehicle. The driver was heading to Mexico and apprehended at the Anzalduas International Bridge. Also this month, they seized dozens of weapons, magazines and multiple rounds of ammunition of varying calibers hidden inside a utility trailer being pulled by a driver heading to Mexico at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge.
A major drug bust this month included intercepting 18 packages of cocaine weighing nearly 42 pounds with an estimated street value of $549,275. The packages were hidden inside a commercial vehicle arriving from Mexico at the Rio Grande City International Bridge cargo facility, CBP said. Also at the same bridge, they seized $71,000 in bulk, unreported U.S. currency during an outbound vehicle inspection.
Of the four CBP OFO regions along the southwest border, two are in Texas. The Laredo OFO is the largest and busiest of the four. It stretches from Laredo to the Rio Grande Valley, including eight ports of entry and two international airports. From west to east, they include Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Roma, Rio Grande City, the South Texas International Airport at Edinburg, Hidalgo, Progresso, Harlingen Airport and Brownsville.
The others include the El Paso OFO, which covers far west Texas and all of New Mexico; the Tucson OFO, which covers all of Arizona; and the San Diego OFO, which covers a portion of southern California.
The Port of Laredo is also the top trade port in the country out of more than 450 airports, seaports, and border crossings with $339 billion in total trade last year, The Center Square reported.
