Drug cartels operating along the U.S.-Mexico border could soon begin using drones to attack American law enforcement personnel, a senior Homeland Security official warned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Steven Willoughby, director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program at the Department of Homeland Security, testified that drone warfare has expanded globally and is increasingly used by criminal groups, including in parts of Mexico such as Sinaloa.
“Cartels at war with one another have used drones to drop explosives,” Willoughby told lawmakers. “It’s only a matter of time before U.S. agents or civilians are targeted near the border.”
In the last six months of 2024 alone, more than 27,000 drone flights were detected within 500 meters of the southern border — many of them occurring at night or at restricted altitudes. CBP has also seized large amounts of illicit drugs, including enough fentanyl to kill tens of thousands of Americans, Willoughby added.
