Deputies chased this Expedition until the driver bailed out, leaving the drugs.

If you want fresh outrage, consider this: Cops in south Texas are getting shot at – from Mexico.  It’s happened at least three times in Hidalgo County in the past year.   Here’s what police say is a typical scenario. Deputies or Border Patrol officers or local cops try to stop a car suspected of hauling drugs. The car takes off and heads for the border. The drug dealers drive the car or truck into the Rio Grande, which separates the U.S. and Mexico.  Hooded men dressed in black appear on the Mexican side of the border and start shooting at police while other bad guys try to get the car across the river and fish out the drugs. In one incident, there was a four minute gun battle between drug runners and law enforcement, each shooting from their side of the border.  No police have been hurt yet, but both Border Patrol and the Hidalgo County Sheriffs Department say attacks like these are increasing. Border Patrol says where three years ago, they’d have maybe six violent attacks in a year — in the past year, there were 130.

What’s going on here?  Law enforcement says it’s a back-handed compliment. They think since they’ve been cracking down on drug running at the border, drug dealers are getting more and more frustrated… and violent. We rode along with a special narcotics unit in the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department. They cruise highways and back-roads just looking for something that looks off.  A deputy told me the drug runners are often, literally, white-knuckled because they are so nervous.  Seems like a logical response if you’re cruising around with a few hundred pounds of pot in the back of your car.  But the deputy said it’s more than that. Often drug bosses will threaten drug runners’ families- as in- get this load through or else you can kiss your kids goodbye.

There’s something else: Drug dealers will often send out “suicide loads.” They’ll send over one vehicle with a relatively small load. That car will intentionally try to get caught with police attention focused on the drug bust, dealers then send over another volley of cars with much bigger drug loads.  Even with increased resources and manpower, police can’t be everywhere at once.  But they are taking their own safety seriously. They wear bullet proof vests and, at least in Hidalgo County, deputies can pack some serious heat — like automatic weapons.  At the rate the border drug war is going, it looks like they’re going to need them.

Check out the behind-the-scenes photos: