The alert cited a possible retaliation shooting after a viral border collision video.
SAN DIEGO, CA — U.S. Border Patrol agents in the San Diego sector were warned in an internal memo that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG, had instructed members to target agents assigned to stations near the California-Mexico border, according to published reports describing the alert.
The warning drew attention because it focused on specific Border Patrol stations and described a short window for possible retaliation. It also arrived amid broader concerns about threats to immigration officers, including shootings near the border and online calls to identify, harass or harm federal personnel. Officials have not released the full memo publicly, leaving key details unconfirmed, including the reliability of the intelligence, how widely it was shared inside the agency, and whether CJNG leadership directly ordered violence inside the United States.
Reports describing the internal memo said the San Diego Sector Intelligence Unit circulated the alert after receiving information on Dec. 4, 2024, about a potential threat to agents assigned to the Imperial Beach and Chula Vista Border Patrol stations. The memo said the shooting could happen within days and urged agents, regardless of assignment, to remain vigilant. The warning was framed as retaliation for an incident in late November that became widely shared online: a Border Patrol vehicle struck a person near the border as several people moved toward or over barrier fencing. In the video, the person who was hit got up quickly and ran back toward Mexico, and the clip spread across social media as critics and supporters argued over what it showed and what it meant.
In accounts of the memo and related reporting, officials believed the person struck in the collision had ties to a cartel, a detail that investigators were still examining. The memo said cartel leaders were angry and claimed the incident happened “without cause or remorse,” language that suggested the intelligence was capturing a grievance narrative circulating among smugglers and their affiliates. The reports tied the warning to CJNG, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations, which has been blamed by U.S. and Mexican authorities for trafficking drugs, controlling smuggling routes and using violence to intimidate rivals and security forces. The memo did not describe a specific time, place or method for an attack beyond the possibility of gunfire aimed at agents, and it did not identify suspects by name.
The late-November incident described in the reporting occurred along the heavily monitored corridor between San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico, where fencing, lighting and cameras cover much of the terrain but where smugglers still test gaps and timing. Imperial Beach sits along the coast just north of the border, and Chula Vista includes areas near the Sweetwater corridor and ports of entry where agents routinely respond to alarms, sightings and rescue calls. The region also includes the San Ysidro port of entry, one of the busiest land crossings in the world, and nearby neighborhoods where small groups can move quickly between urban streets and open spaces. In that environment, officers often face fast-moving scenes with multiple people, vehicles and shifting lines of sight, creating the kind of split-second conditions that can fuel viral footage and heated public reaction.
Federal authorities said the collision case was reviewed by prosecutors and internal investigators. In reporting about the incident, a U.S. attorney’s office worked with Customs and Border Protection and the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates allegations of misconduct. Such reviews can take months, particularly when video spreads widely and investigators must collect and preserve records, radio traffic and body-worn or vehicle camera footage. The investigation’s status has not been publicly detailed in full, and officials have not announced charges related to the collision. In recent years, Border Patrol has faced scrutiny over vehicle pursuits, uses of force and transparency, while agents and union leaders have argued that officers are confronting increasingly organized smuggling networks that can turn violent quickly.
The internal memo’s focus on retaliation reflected a longstanding pattern in border enforcement: criminal groups sometimes respond to arrests, seizures or public incidents with threats meant to deter law enforcement. In some cases, threats are real and specific; in others, they are designed to spread fear, tie down resources or test responses. Analysts say the challenge for officers is that even a vague warning can be dangerous when paired with social media amplification, local rumor and the reality that agents work in predictable routines, including commuting routes, station patrol areas and known response points. In the San Diego sector, where agents often operate in teams and coordinate with local police, the risk calculus also includes crowded public spaces, dense road networks and the presence of lookouts who can track patrol patterns from hillsides or parked vehicles.
Reports about the San Diego memo also landed against a broader backdrop of threats involving immigration officers nationwide. In October 2025, the Department of Homeland Security said it had credible intelligence that criminal actors were offering payments for actions ranging from identifying officers online to assaults, kidnappings or killings of higher-ranking federal officials in the Chicago area. That claim, and public debate around it, underscored how quickly targeted threats can move beyond the border region and how federal agencies may warn personnel even when intelligence is incomplete. Mexican officials and some experts have disputed parts of publicly discussed bounty allegations in the past, arguing that cartels often avoid direct attacks on U.S. officers on U.S. soil because of the intense attention and enforcement response such attacks can trigger.
Even so, CJNG has a reputation in Mexico for brazen violence and for using intimidation as a strategy, including attacks on Mexican police and security forces and coordinated shows of force during crackdowns. U.S. officials have described CJNG as a major player in fentanyl trafficking and in broader drug distribution networks, and law enforcement agencies have repeatedly targeted its financial and logistics infrastructure. For Border Patrol, the immediate concern described in the San Diego memo was not a long-term intelligence assessment, but the possibility of a near-term ambush or shooting aimed at agents working regular duties. The memo’s reference to specific stations suggested that the threat was tied to a defined area of responsibility and that the warning was intended to tighten alertness in locations where agents could be most exposed.
As of early 2026, no public report has confirmed that a CJNG-ordered attack occurred against Border Patrol agents at the Imperial Beach or Chula Vista stations during the period described in the memo. Border Patrol and federal prosecutors have not released a detailed public accounting of the underlying intelligence. For now, the incident remains an example of how quickly a single viral border encounter can trigger internal safety warnings, intensify political debate and raise fear among officers tasked with patrolling one of the nation’s busiest border corridors.
Author note: Last updated February 9, 2026.