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Mexican drug cartels are flying tens of thousands of drones close to the southern border, as they track Border Patrol agents, coordinate smuggling and test American airspace.
Customs and Border Patrol told Breitbart Texas that agents detected more than 42,000 drone flights near the southern border during the financial year 2025.
They described the threat as “rapidly evolving.”
“The counter‑unmanned aerial systems (C‑UAS) environment is rapidly evolving, as are cartel tactics,” a CBP official said.
“In FY25, CBP detected over 42,000 near‑border, unmanned drone flights. This highlights the magnitude of the problem, even if not every one of those threats was nefarious.”
Fox News recently reported that a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told Congress cartels launched 60,000 drone flights between July and December 2024, an average of 300 drone flights a day.
According to Breitbart, “Federal officials say cartels use drones to map Border Patrol movements in real time, identify gaps in enforcement, direct migrant groups, and coordinate drug‑smuggling teams. Some cartel factions have already deployed drones carrying explosives against Mexican police and military units, raising concerns that similar tactics could eventually be used against U.S. law enforcement.”
Just last week, a drone incursion led to a temporary shutdown of airspace over El Paso, Texas.
Despite the clear nature of the threat, there are still significant regulatory hurdles preventing an effective response.
Breitbart explains, “FAA restrictions limit where and how counter‑UAS systems can be deployed, while overlapping authorities between DHS, DOD, and DOJ complicate rapid response.”
