Mexican Gang Targets U.S. Officers

In yet another example of violence spreading north of the border, a deadly Mexican gang is actively plotting to kill U.S. law enforcement officers and their families in Texas, according to a Department of Homeland Security alert that warns the cops to wear body armor and vary routes to avoid being tracked.

Issued this week, the government directive instructs area law enforcement officers—local and federal—in El Paso to be extra vigilant because the Mexican-based Barrio Azteca gang is retaliating for a recent sweep targeting its thugs for murdering two Americans at the U.S. Consulate Juarez.

Dubbed “Operation Knock Down,” the huge crackdown focused on the lethal Barrio Azteca gang, which operates in El Paso jails, and its counterpart in Mexico, which is allied with the renowned Juarez drug cartel. In all, 54 gang members and their criminal associates were arrested in El Paso’s largest law enforcement operation which involved more than 200 officers from 21 agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

This annoyed the gang’s hierarchy so its military-style leadership quickly issued a “green light” authorizing the murder of El Paso area law enforcement officers, according to the Homeland Security alert posted by a local newspaper. The notoriously violent gang was founded three decades ago and its leader appears on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.

It’s not uncommon for Mexican drug cartels to openly issue hits on law enforcement officers who may interfere with their lucrative enterprise, though it doesn’t happen as often in the U.S. as south of the border. A few years ago Mexican drug traffickers offered a $200,000 bounty for the deaths of U.S. federal agents along the border as well as bounties on drug-sniffing dogs.