CBP: Cartels Flew 42,000 Drones near U.S. Border in FY25
by Bob Price
Mexican drug cartels are conducting drone operations along the U.S.–Mexico border at industrial scale, with federal agencies now confirming tens of thousands of unmanned flights used to track Border Patrol agents, coordinate smuggling, and probe American airspace. In a statement to Breitbart Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed that agents detected more than 42,000 unmanned drone flights near the border in FY25, calling the threat “rapidly evolving” as cartels expand their aerial surveillance capabilities.
“The counter‑unmanned aerial systems (C‑UAS) environment is rapidly evolving, as are cartel tactics,” a CBP official said, responding to an inquiry from Breitbart Texas. “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.”
The CBP figure follows earlier testimony reported by Fox News in which a senior DHS counter‑drone official told Congress that cartels launched 60,000 drone flights in just six months — from July through December 2024 — averaging more than 300 cartel drone flights per day just south of the border. That DHS estimate included Mexico‑side operations and detections across multiple agencies, illustrating the full scope of cartel aerial activity.
Together, the DHS and CBP numbers paint a stark picture: cartel drone operations are not only widespread but also accelerating.
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.
In October, Breitbart Texas reported the arrest of a Gulf Cartel member operating in Reynosa, Tamaulipas (just south of the Texas/Mexico border). The suspected Gulf Cartel operator had 151 drone explosives, 18 drones, three IEDs, and various other weapons. Officials said the man was also in possession of three state-of-the-art anti-drone devices.
As far back as April 2021, Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles Project reported that cartels in western Mexico were weaponizing commercial drones through the use of improvised explosive devices.