AUSTIN, Texas — Border Patrol agents gained a tactical advantage over drug cartels now that an overgrown riverfront on the U.S.-Mexico boundary has been cleared of vegetation.

Border Patrol agents, as well as state and local law enforcement, will be able to see through and navigate a massive 170-acre portion of borderland following the state's decision to clear vegetation that had overtaken Fronton Island in South Texas that had been used for illegal cartel activity.

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Dawn Buckingham, commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, or GLO, told the Washington Examiner that she organized the clearing effort with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Military Department, and Texas Rangers.

“It is my goal to stop illegal immigrants and cartel gang members from pouring into our cities, bringing in crime, draining our resources, smuggling drugs, and kidnapping our children," Buckingham wrote in a statement.

Fronton Island has become a hot spot and hub for Mexican cartels to stage smugglers, narcotics, and immigrants before moving them into the U.S., according to the GLO.

Buckingham's office was aware of the cartels' use of the land and decided this fall to survey the area to see what could be done to make it easier for police to patrol. The GLO determined that the state land could be cleared of the Carrizo Cane that had overpopulated the area. The cane is a harmful type of tall grass that hurts water conservation, and the cartels have used it to their advantage as coverage from police.

Clearing the area of all vegetation would make it harder for cartels or illegal immigrants to hide.

"From a tactical standpoint, people will not want to be out in the open," GLO spokeswoman Kimberly Willingham Hubbard wrote in a text message. "Fronton Island is roughly 170 acres. Imagine crossing 170 acres completely with no cover and completely exposed."

The clearing was welcomed news to federal law enforcement agents.

"It’s a good thing," said Chris Cabrera, a Border Patrol agent who is a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council's Rio Grande Valley region. "I have heard it from agents. And yes, very grateful the state of Texas did it. We have been trying to get the cane removed in many areas, and it has always fallen on deaf ears on the federal side."

Cabrera, an agent of 22 years, said the cleared land will improve visibility across a wide area and give law enforcement a tactical advantage to see across the river, the river itself, and the U.S. land.

Hubbard said cartel activity through Fronton Island has "dropped to zero" since it was cleared out this month.

Border Patrol agents and even members of Congress have tried to force the Department of Homeland Security to clear the cane, including in H.R. 2, a House-passed bill that has yet to be picked up by the Senate.

The border bill included language to fund $7 million for invasive plant species eradication efforts each year from 2024 through 2028, according to a cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

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Texas officials also installed concertina wire along the riverbank to deter people who might still try to come up from the Rio Grande in that area.

A small area was left unplowed so a local rancher's cattle could continue grazing on the land.