WESLACO – Federal law enforcement said they’re seeing an increase in hard drugs being smuggled into the U.S.

U.S. Border Patrol said the increase comes after the reported dramatic decrease in people crossing illegally. They said the two changing trends are connected.

Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they’re seeing a 177 percent increase in heroine seizures and a 129 percent in cocaine.

Hard drugs like cocaine, heroin and even liquid meth are being smuggled in creative ways through Rio Grande Valley ports of entry.

Border Patrol agent Marlene Castro said these hard drugs are big money for the cartels.

“We’re seeing a trend where cocaine, heroin and meth are going up. Our checkpoints have seen almost double the amount,” she said.

Castro said the cartels were making a lot of money off of human smuggling. Since people aren’t crossing in the numbers they used to, she said business had to change.

“In order to keep their profits at the level they were before, they’re increasing their narcotic output. And, of course, the harder drugs are going to bring in more money than marijuana,” she said.

But people aren’t the only loss in profits for the cartels. Experts said they’re losing income in Mexico as the Tamaulipas government cracks down on organized crime.

“For the first time in more than 10 years, this government is taking charge,” Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Garcia Cabeza De Vaca said via social media. “We started to dismantle organizations dedicated to committing kidnappings and extortion, and those criminals are also part of the other groups that commit other crimes.”

CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke with former FBI agent Arturo Fontes, who works in Tamaulipas gathering security intelligence for U.S. businesses and law enforcement.

“You’re starting to see more of the governor of Tamaulipas hitting these people and affecting their pocketbooks,” he said.

He said the crackdown on organized crime creates violence in the state and pushes hard drugs across the border.

“They’re going to be impacting the casinos, the pirating, the gas and oil and so you’re right, there’s not enough money, and they’re going to flood the area with cocaine and drugs,” he said.

Fontes said it’s an upward trend he believes will continue and law enforcement along the border will have to adapt.

The former FBI agent added a lot of the hard drugs crossing the border are coming from the Jalisco Cartel. He said the group has a deal with the Gulf Cartel to move product through the area.