Are There Cartels in Texas? CJNG, Cártel del Noreste, 31 Federal Cases and Evidence (2026)

Which Mexican cartels and transnational gangs are reported in Texas, what federal prosecutors have charged since 2024, and our latest Texas coverage. Every item links to its source.

Cartels in the U.S.: map and all states · Mexico cartel map

Nationwide: the DEA’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment says associates, facilitators and affiliates of the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG operate in almost all 50 U.S. states. [Small Wars Journal (summary of DEA NDTA 2025), 2025-05-18] The state-by-state evidence below goes further: named cities, federal cases and official reports.

Groups reported in Texas

• Cártel del Noreste (DEA threat assessment, Dallas-Fort Worth, as of 2025): “CDN associates, facilitators, and affiliates operate throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia, as well as in the upper Midwest.” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• Gulf Cartel (federal court case, as of 2026): “Illegal alien charged with providing material support to Gulf Cartel — a foreign terrorist organization” [U.S. Department of Justice (SDTX)]
• La Nueva Familia Michoacana (DEA threat assessment, Dallas, as of 2025): “LNFM traffics this methamphetamine mostly to the Dallas, Texas area – their primary U.S. market” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• Juárez Cartel (official statement, El Paso, as of 2026): “targets of ICE El Paso investigation into foreign terrorist organizations” [ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)]
• Beltrán Leyva Organization (official statement, as of 2026): “the former Beltrán-Leyva Organization” [ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)]
• Tren de Aragua (federal court case, as of 2026): “indictments across five U.S. Attorney offices, including the District of Colorado, District of Nebraska, District of New Mexico” [U.S. Department of Justice]
• MS-13 (federal court case, as of 2024): “operates throughout North and Central America, including in El Salvador, Mexico, New York, California, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina” [ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)]
• Cártel del Noreste (DEA threat assessment, San Antonio, as of 2025): “distribution hubs in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• Cártel del Noreste (DEA threat assessment, Austin, as of 2025): “distribution hubs in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• Gulf Cartel (DEA threat assessment, Rio Grande Valley, as of 2025): “controls significant drug trafficking routes into the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• Gulf Cartel (DEA threat assessment, Brownsville, as of 2025): “throughout the Brownsville, Texas area” [Small Wars Journal, 2025-05-18]
• La Nueva Familia Michoacana (federal court case) [U.S. Department of Justice]
• Los Chapitos (Sinaloa Cartel) (news report, El Paso, as of 2026): “The two cities are El Paso and Phoenix.” [El Paso Herald Post, 2026-05-12]
• Tren de Aragua (federal court case, as of 2025): “A six-count superseding indictment has been unsealed charging four Venezuelan nationals, including multiple alleged high-ranking members of TdA, for conspiring to provide and providing material support to TdA, and for conspiracy and distribution of cocaine in Colombia intended for distribution in the United States.” [U.S. Department of Justice]
• Sinaloa Cartel (Treasury sanctions, as of 2026): “As a cell leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Gonzalez Penuelas operates primarily in Sinaloa, Mexico with U.S.-based distribution cells in California, Texas, Colorado, Washington, Utah, and Nevada.” [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2026-05-20]
• CJNG (news report, El Paso, as of 2025): “Investigators noted the tunnel was linked to the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) to facilitate cross-border smuggling of humans, drugs, and firearms. Federal law enforcement first found the sophisticated tunnel running between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso in January 2025.” [FOX 7 Austin]

Federal cases in Texas (since Jan 2024)

Our Texas coverage

• $900 a Child, THC Gummies to Keep Them Quiet: Juárez Couple Extradited to El Paso, Texas, Accused of Smuggling Kids Ages 5 to 13 Across the Border Sep 29, 2026
• $54,000 to Smugglers, 3 Dead in a Hill Country Crash: Houston Man Gets 35 More Years in Del Rio, Texas, for Role in CJNG-Linked Smuggling Ring Sep 28, 2026
• 94 Pounds of Fentanyl in One Commercial Truck at the Laredo Port of Entry: Texas DPS Arrests Wisconsin and Oklahoma Men in $1.4 Million Seizure Sep 27, 2026
• A Pet Jaguar and a Toll on Crude Trucked Into Texas: Who Is ‘Primito,’ the U.S.-Sanctioned Boss Mexico Says ‘El Bebo’ Worked For Sep 27, 2026
• Life in Prison for Louisiana Smuggler Who Livestreamed a 105-MPH Chase, Then Killed a Grandmother, a 7-Year-Old Girl and 2 Migrants in Ozona, Texas Sep 26, 2026
• Guatemala’s ‘The Iceman’ Flown to McKinney, Texas, After 8-Year U.S. Hunt — Accused Associate of Ex-Mayor Who Allegedly Supplied Sinaloa Cartel Cocaine Sep 25, 2026
• Caught in Chicago: U.S. Marshals Arrest Rogelio Castro, a Fugitive They Tie to the Sinaloa Cartel, Wanted in West Texas on a Cocaine Warrant Sep 24, 2026
• 13,000 Pounds of Marijuana for Rio Grande Valley Smugglers: Gulf Cartel Lieutenant Gets 12 Years in Texas, a Decade After His Mexico City Arrest Sep 24, 2026

Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. Report errors via our corrections page.