
With illegal immigration growing across the U.S., a senior Pentagon official recently said the number of drones at the southern border is “alarming.”
When asked about the number of drones entering U.S. airspace unauthorized, Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot said he was shocked by the massive figure of the flying machines present at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The number of incursions was something that was alarming to me as I took command last month,” Guillot said during a Senate hearing.
Although the Pentagon official did not know the exact number of unauthorized drones at the southern border, known as “incursions,” he said Border Patrol agents estimated the figure in the thousands.
“I don’t know the actual number,” Guillot said. “I don’t think anybody does, but it’s in the thousands. I would say in probably over a month we could probably have over 1,000 a month.”
Pentagon commander warns of drones at Southern border pic.twitter.com/xs2BbbXQ4s
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) March 15, 2024
Just the News reported that Guillot has served as commander of the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command since February 2024.
The New York Post pointed out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials previously said that notorious Mexican cartels used drones to track the location of law enforcement in the U.S. to dictate what routes they could use to smuggle illegal immigrants and drugs into America.
In February 2023, Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez told the House Oversight Committee that in her Texas-based sector, over 10,000 drone incursions and 25,000 sightings of the flying machine had been reported the prior year.
“The adversaries have 17 times the number of drones, twice the amount of flight hours and unlimited funding to grow their operations,” Chavez said.
The New York Post reported that U.S. officials discovered drone footage of Border Patrol agents who were brutalized by human smugglers during an alleged raid of a safe house used to hide illegal immigrants crossing the southern border.
“Human smugglers using drones to surveil the Border Patrol is a growing trend that we’ve observed along the border,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke said in a statement. “This technology provides transnational criminal organizations with new capability that they are eager to exploit.”