Coast Guard personnel exchanged gunfire with people on the Mexican side of the border on Sept. 26 near Garceno in Starr County, Texas, while federal agencies were carrying out joint operations in the area. No injuries were reported, and the Coast Guard said no damage was done to its assets or equipment.
The exchange is drawing attention now because it landed in the middle of a broader security buildup along the river. The Coast Guard later launched Operation River Wall in October 2025, adding personnel, boats and other assets to patrol about 260 miles of the Rio Grande, and it said it was working closely with Border Patrol, the Pentagon and the Texas Military Department to secure the border, disrupt illicit activity and protect the American people.
The most immediate question remains unresolved: the Coast Guard says the shots came from the Mexican side, but it is still not clear who fired first. Coast Guard personnel were intercepting migrants crossing the Rio Grande River when the initial gunshots were reported, and the service said it was investigating the incident with federal partners. That leaves the basic sequence of the shooting intact, but not the responsibility for starting it.
Ronald Johnson said the embassy is helping coordinate with Mexican forces being deployed in the border area where shots were fired against elements of the United States Coast Guard. He said Mexican military commanders will communicate directly with the U.S. forces deployed, a sign that the response is being managed across the border as much as along it.
The buildup has already widened. Hundreds of U.S. troops and their equipment were repositioned to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, and 500 Mexican Army and National Guard personnel were deployed to the Mexican side of the border. The U.S. military later cited the exchange as an example of increased illegal activity, tying one brief firefight to a much larger pattern of pressure along the river.
What happens next is less about a single confrontation than about whether the two governments can match their coordination to the threat. The Coast Guard says it will keep investigating, while Johnson’s comments point to direct contact between commanders on both sides. For now, the shooting near Garceno stands as a sharp reminder that the border security push is active, armed and still incomplete.
