NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
MEXICO CITY: Mexican cartels are said to be using commercial and modified drones to watch U.S. security personnel, map patrol routines and support smuggling corridors along the southern border as authorities expand efforts to disable the aircraft.
The U.S. military detected 378 drone incursions along the border during the previous 30 days, Brig. Gen. Brian Filler of Joint Task Force-Southern Border recently told reporters. He said the trend was increasing, and the aircraft were typically commercial drones with cameras used for surveillance tied to smuggling and human trafficking.
“On the border, the most common application is surveillance and reconnaissance as cartels look to establish a pattern of life for U.S. security personnel and support smuggling outcomes across the border,” Austin Doctor told Fox News Digital. Doctor directs strategic initiatives at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center and teaches criminology and criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
US MILITARY LAUNCHES FIRST AUTONOMOUS WARFARE COMMAND TO DEPLOY UNMANNED SYSTEMS ACROSS LATIN AMERICA
A new law allows law enforcement in Arizona to shoot down drones suspected of participating in criminal activity along the U.S.-Mexico border. (iStock)
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson confirmed the growing threat, telling Fox News Digital that “Rapidly advancing Unmanned Aircraft System technology presents persistent threats, including counter-surveillance, illicit cargo movement, and potential kinetic attacks. Cartels increasingly exploit UAS for surveillance, illicit activities, monitoring law enforcement, scouting crossing points and coordinating smuggling operations. CBP detected over 42,000 near-border UAS flights in FY25 and over 37,000 in FY26, underscoring the scale of this challenge.”
The spokesperson added that “Under congressional authority (6 USC 124n), the Department of Homeland Security has approved Counter-UAS authorities for CBP. U.S. Border Patrol C-UAS operations, with DHS Secretary approval, cover the entire Southwest border and areas extending 100 miles inland for detection, identification, monitoring, and tracking of UASs. USBP C-UAS operates in all Southwest border sectors to detect, track, and mitigate these threats.”
Doctor explained how the cartels are using drones. “Most cartels and cartel associates still rely on commercial-off-the-shelf drones,” he said. More sophisticated aircraft are emerging, however, including “larger agricultural drone devices.” He added, “Cartels continue to innovate their drone designs, often focused on increasing payload sizes, improving resistance to countermeasures and boosting operational capabilities.”
A pig walks near the rubble of a home after a drone attack allegedly by Los Ardillos cartel in Tula, Chilapa de Alvarez municipality, Guerrero state, Mexico, on May 19, 2026. (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)
He identified surveillance and logistics as the dominant border roles, with weaponized use more frequently documented inside Mexico.
“Cartels and cartel affiliates use drones for a wide range of tactics and operations… That includes kinetic attacks on rival factions, civilians in Mexico and local security forces.” Doctor said NCITE research identified the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, as “a key driver of drone innovation and adoption within the Mexico cartel ecosystem,” although drone use has spread among cartels and across Mexican states.
FBI WARNS BATTLEFIELD-STYLE DRONE ATTACKS COULD REACH US: ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’
A U.S. Army soldier uses binoculars while riding a Stryker armored vehicle at the U.S.-Mexico border, as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and following the establishment of a 260-mile military zone along the U.S. southern border in New Mexico and Texas, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., May 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
A 2025 seizure in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, shows how border regions can support those programs. Mexico’s security cabinet said soldiers and state police detained a man and seized 18 drones, 151 explosive objects, two improvised explosive devices a drone detector and three counter-drone devices. The official announcement did not identify a cartel. Doctor said the safehouse “was reported as linked to the Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel.”
Weaponized drones have also reached a Mexican border city. In Oct. 2025, Baja California’s prosecutor said a drone dropped homemade explosive devices at an anti-kidnapping prosecutor’s office in Tijuana, damaging four vehicles but causing no injuries. Authorities described it as criminal retaliation but did not publicly identify a cartel.
Mexico’s National Guard officers guard the area around the prosecutor’s office after a drone attack the night before, in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on October 16, 2025. A drone attack hit the prosecutor’s office in the Mexican city of Tijuana on the US border, a key hub for drug trafficking, authorities said without identifying the suspected assailants. (Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images)
Doctor said Tijuana was among the exceptions to the pattern of attacks occurring farther inside Mexico. Border regions, he said, remain “critical facilitation hubs,” and the risk of increased kinetic attacks there “remains credible.”
Mexico says it is responding with interdictions, counter-drone equipment, military operations and new criminal penalties. During last month’s Águila Alta operation in the Tijuana-San Diego area, the defense ministry said Mexican forces neutralized five drones, detained one person, seized a firearm, magazines and ammunition.
U.S. Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) agents from the Tucson Sector and Air and Marine Operations (AMO) participate in a demonstration of the rescue of a migrant lost in the Brown Canyon desert near Sasabe, Arizona. Authorities on Tuesday were investigating a shooting involving the Border Patrol in Arizona. (HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
One aircraft was initially detected in the U.S. and later neutralized in Mexico following information-sharing with Customs and Border Protection. Officials said the operation deterred criminal activity and strengthened coordination but released no before-and-after data showing whether drone traffic subsequently declined.
Mexico made certain drone-related conduct a federal crime in 2024, including dropping explosives, adapting aircraft to carry weapons or drugs and surveilling public officials.
CBP OFFICERS SEIZE $67 MILLION IN ILLEGAL DRUGS AT SAN DIEGO BORDER PORTS, DHS SAYS
National Guard officers install a checkpoint to inspect motorists before crossing into the United States at San Ysidro Port of Entry on February 6, 2025 in Tijuana, Mexico. President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum announced the deployment of 10,000 troops along the Mexico-US border as part of an agreement with Trump’s administration to delay a 25% increase of tariffs on exported goods. (Francisco Vega/Getty Images)
Earlier this month Mexico deployed 500 soldiers and National Guard members, two helicopters, drones and mobile and fixed counter-drone systems in five Tamaulipas municipalities. The Navy separately reported 159 personnel, 11 vehicles and two drones under Operation Sable.
In response to Fox News Digital questions, a Department of War spokesperson said Joint Task Force-Southern Border, CBP and the Department of Homeland Security use layered monitoring and detection systems to “observe, evaluate and, if needed, engage threats.”
Coast Guard personnel exchanged gunfire with people on the Mexican side of the border. (Brenda Bazan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
What remains unknown is the number of cartel-operated drones, which groups control individual flights and whether Mexico’s countermeasures are producing results.
Doctor said that increased counter-drone resources are important but cautioned that “it is almost certain that cartels will continue to innovate and adapt.”
