CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller delivered the following remarks on how U.S. Customs and Border Protection is targeting Transnational Criminal Organizations at the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas
Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here today.
I am joined by local CBP leadership team Chief Patrol Agent Scott Good, Director of Field Operations Hector Macha, and Air Marine Operations Branch director Efren Gonzalez. And I also have the Deputy Chief of the Border Patrol, David B. Miller, with me as well. We just met with many of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners here in El Paso.
We talked about what we're doing to combat transnational criminal organizations operating along the southwest border, and how we can do even more to bring the fight against them.
These ruthless criminal organizations peddle chaos and profit from human suffering. They traffic illicit drugs into our country that make their way into our communities. They exploit vulnerable migrants, leaving them for dead in the unforgiving desert. And they cause cross-border violence that puts border communities and our law enforcement personnel at risk.
They are sophisticated, innovative, relentless. But so are the men and women of Customs and Border Protection. Our ability to adapt and respond is making an impact in this fight. Through our multi-layered enforcement approach, we are exerting significant pressure against TCO operations in the West, specifically in California and Arizona.
While that is good for our enforcement efforts, it could mean these organizations will shift their tactics, techniques, and procedures, pushing their operations further east in order to stay primed for profit. So we are continually enhancing how and where we combat these issues. A few months ago, I announced the next phase of our fight against TCOs and fentanyl, Operation Plaza Spike.
Going after the Plaza bosses, these are the cartel's middle management whose organizations are responsible for everything that are smuggled across our southwest border. We are expanding Operation Plaza Spike to the El Paso and Juarez region. We know what the TCOs operating south of the border here in El Paso are doing and we are targeting these plaza bosses and those operating for them. Through our enforcement actions, we can and we will degrade their operations.
Here's how it works. We focus on gathering actionable intelligence on these networks. We work with our partners to disrupt and degrade the operations of the TCOs, and we will deliver consequences.
CBP is also focusing on the illegal exportations of weapons from the U.S. to the cartels in Mexico, severely hampering their ability to arm their operations. We're working closely with our federal, state, and local partners along the southwest border and now specifically in El Paso.
We are using all of our collective intelligence and operational capabilities to focus pressure and disrupt operations on these TCOs. These partnerships are critical in all of our enforcement efforts. CBP is proud to lead the federal government's effort in the fight against fentanyl. We bring our unique position in authorities and are even more impactful when we're working with our federal, state and local partners.
Today, I am also announcing a new counter fentanyl surge operation across the southwest border. From here in El Paso all the way to San Diego, Apollo X will surge resources from the full force of Customs and Border Protection. CBP jump teams across the southwest border will go towards the threats, will use that actionable intelligence to not only find and seize fentanyl, but also uncover supply chains so we can determine where it's coming from and where it's headed.
That's the information we need to get into the hands of our state and local partners, so we can work together to find and stop these ruthless networks. Our partners in Mexico are making an impact, too. I would like to congratulate the Government of Mexico on some recent successes and their efforts to combat these criminal organizations, including recent arrests of border plaza level leaders over the past several months.
And just this week, a notorious player in the Sonora Plaza in Arizona was extradited to the United States to face justice for his role in smuggling fentanyl through the Lukeville Port of Entry in Arizona. This is progress. All of these efforts leverage CBP's position on the frontline against fentanyl and are just the latest in our efforts to disrupt criminal supply networks and keep fentanyl out of our nation's communities.
Thanks to the men and women of CBP, we will have a tremendous impact on the cartels ability to smuggle this dangerous drug across our borders. So let me be clear. If you are making or removing fentanyl across our borders, if you are responsible for smuggling and exploiting people, and if you are profiting from the suffering of others, we know who you are, and we are bringing the full force of the federal government to shut you down.
We are determined, we are capable, and we are relentless in this mission. It's a fight we take personally and it's a fight we will not lose. Thank you.
Now I want to give you an opportunity to hear from the leaders who are leading these efforts and keeping our communities safe here in El Paso. I would now like to turn it over to Chief Scott. Thank you.