The Expanding Role of Drones in Southern Border Security

In December 2023, migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border reached a record high, according to Pew Research Center. By August 2024, those encounters had dropped 77%, and eighteen months later, migrant encounters dropped to their lowest level in more than 50 years.

The recent decline in migrant encounters is partially attributed to policy changes on both sides of the border. Besides policy changes, another factor in improving the mitigation of illegal border crossings are the technologies and personnel Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have committed to in recent years.

One such technology is unmanned aerial systems, or drones. CBP has begun expanding the role of drones in its operations, which has offered significant benefits in terms of time and cost savings, and officer safety. This report will analyze not only how CBP is leveraging drones on the southern border, but inversely the risks drones present on the southern border when used maliciously.

To learn more about drone use on the southern border and other U.S. military and DHS efforts to use drones to secure the homeland, IDGA’s Next Gen UAS Summit will include a range of discussions from the military’s drone dominance initiative to R&D directives the military is taking to advance UAS capabilities and much more.