(NewsNation) —Mexican cartels are becoming increasingly confrontational with law enforcement, using tire deflation devices like caltrops to disable vehicles during pursuits to evade arrest. 

While these devices have been in use quietly for nearly two decades, there has been a recent resurgence and Border Patrol has issued an alert to agents warning them of an uptick in tire deflation tactics by smugglers.

Cartels and criminal smugglers are finding “ways to evolve based on what we’re doing as law enforcement, they’re going to change their tactics,” Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Chris Olivarez told NewsNation.

“If they are constantly being pursued by law enforcement, getting arrested by law enforcement, they have no other way to get away.” 

The use of tire deflation devices

Tire deflation devices, like caltrops, were seen by DPS as early as 2008 when drug smugglers would use them against law enforcement to protect drug loads and evade law enforcement, Olivarez said. But they became less common over the years.

Caltrops are devices with four metal points arranged so that when any three are on the ground, the fourth spike projects upward to puncture tires. 

While they look different, the devices act similarly to the tire deflation mechanisms law enforcement uses and has the same goal. 

The use of a caltrop or other tire deflation device against an officer is a third-degree felony.

“We started seeing caltrops now this particular instance, we haven’t seen them in years,” Olivarez said.  

Olivarez said he is concerned with the resurgence as the agency has been contending with human smuggling on a daily basis.  

Cartels and smugglers are starting to get “desperate,” now, he said. 

“They want to evade law enforcement by any means whatsoever, and if that means using a weapon such as caltrops, and that’s what we could possibly start seeing in the future.” 

Caltrops are likely used by a more advanced smuggler who has been working for the criminal cartels for years, he added. 

Incidents where tire deflation devices used 

Tire deflation devices have long been used by the Texas DPS, which works under the state’s Operation Lone Star program, created by Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Since Operation Lone Star launched in 2021, troopers have made 9,730 human smuggling arrests and filed nearly 2,200 charges for the offense.

In one incident, a truck driver fled from DPS troopers in La Salle County, leading troopers to deploy a tire deflation device causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and leading to his arrest.  

During a chase in Kinney County, two teenage smugglers who had been paid $9,000 to move migrants hit a light pole after their tires were punctured. Both were arrested and charged.

But now, it appears the tables have turned with smugglers employing the same tactics. 

Both law enforcement and civilian vehicles have been damaged in these attempts to escape. 

Texas DPS officers found caltrops in a vehicle used to smuggle undocumented migrants after a car pursuit resulted in the suspects fleeing near Uvalde, Texas. 

Neither the driver nor the occupants of the vehicle were found. 

“Clearly, those devices are meant to stop the pursuit, to allow them to evade,” Olivarez said.