500 troops deployed to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley after Coast Guard shooting

(NewsNation) — Roughly 500 troops are deploying to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley this week, sources confirmed to NewsNation, as federal forces step up border operations following a shooting incident involving the Coast Guard.

Video obtained by NewsNation shows troops being dropped onto islands in the sector from Chinook helicopters.

The deployment comes days after Coast Guard personnel came under gunfire from suspected cartel members on the Rio Grande.

The Coast Guard said Coast Guard Forces Rio Grande personnel encountered gunfire from the Mexican border near Garceno, Texas, on Saturday while conducting joint interdiction operations with federal partners. Personnel returned fire.

No injuries to Coast Guard or other personnel were reported, and no damage to Coast Guard assets was reported, the agency said. The incident remains under investigation.

“The Coast Guard works closely with U.S. Border Patrol, the Department of War and the Texas Military Department to secure the border, disrupt illicit activity and protect the American people,” the agency said in a statement.

It added it will continue to use a “layered, integrated approach” to control, secure and defend the border, and threats to its members and partners are taken “extremely seriously.”

U.S. forces are also confronting cartel-linked drones along this stretch of the border.

From August to September, the military used a high-energy laser in the Rio Grande Valley to take down at least 11 cartel-linked drones, officials said. They said the effort supported activities that posed a physical threat to troops and Customs and Border Protection personnel.

The Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector spans more than 320 river miles, 250 coastal miles and 19 counties. Threats there include cartels watching the movements of agents and troops, using drones to guide groups and smuggling drugs.

The Army says it is using all available resources to combat the threats.

President Donald Trump has continued to pressure Mexico to do more, saying cartels are the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere” and they control the border.