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.
Mexican authorities confirmed that two police officers in Michoacán were injured by an attack from cartel gunmen who used commercial drones to drop IEDs. The attack came after state police officers removed a series of roadblocks aimed at keeping rival cartels from using armored SUVs to carry out attacks in their attempts to take control.
The surge in drone flights has already disrupted civilian life in the United States. Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily shut down airspace over El Paso after reports of a suspected cartel drone incursion, Breitbart Texas reported. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed that the FAA and DOW “acted swiftly to address the drone incursion” before later acknowledging that at least one of the objects shot down was a balloon. The incident underscored both the intensity of drone activity in the region and the difficulty of distinguishing cartel aircraft from other airborne objects in real time.
Breitbart reported that the La Linea cartel faction is the primary cartel in control of the area south of El Paso. The article revealed:
La Linea continued operating as a network of cells rather than a strict hierarchy and, over time, regained control of the city. In El Paso, both La Linea and the Sinaloa Cartel continue to operate healthy trafficking routes into Texas and New Mexico. Cartel Jalisco New Generation also has a presence in Ciudad Juárez, established through an alliance of convenience with La Línea, and has become one of its main suppliers.
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At the start of the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of State named six Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist groups. La Linea was not one of those organizations. As Breitbart Texas reported, there have been calls to add La Linea and the various cells that operate in the region to that list.
Border‑region law enforcement officials say cartel drones operate nightly, often flying high enough to evade detection while maintaining a clear view of U.S. agents on the ground. Many of the drones detected by CBP are flown repeatedly, allowing smugglers to build detailed maps of patrol patterns, response times, and blind spots.
Despite the escalating threat, federal agencies face significant legal and operational hurdles in countering cartel drones. FAA restrictions limit where and how counter‑UAS systems can be deployed, while overlapping authorities between DHS, DOD, and DOJ complicate rapid response. The result is a patchwork of defenses along a border where cartel drone flights now number in the tens of thousands.
With DHS reporting 60,000 cartel drone flights in six months and CBP confirming 42,000 near‑border detections in FY25, federal officials warn that the United States is entering a new phase of border security — one in which cartels possess persistent aerial surveillance capabilities that rival those of small nation‑states.
As cartel drone activity surges into the tens of thousands and federal agencies struggle with outdated authorities and fragmented counter‑UAS rules, the southern border is entering a new era in which criminal organizations wield persistent aerial surveillance once reserved for nation‑states. The combined DHS and CBP data make clear that cartel drone operations are expanding faster than Washington’s ability to respond, giving traffickers unprecedented visibility into U.S. law‑enforcement movements.
Unless federal leaders move quickly to modernize counter‑drone laws, unify agency authorities, and deploy the technology needed to confront this threat, the cartels’ unmanned fleets will continue to grow in capability and consequence — leaving America’s border communities to absorb the risks.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
