Ted Cruz: Mexican cartels use drones more effectively than U.S. law enforcement

US Senator Ted Cruz warned that Mexican drug cartels currently have “greater operational capability” with drones than US law enforcement agencies.

During the US Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing “Protecting the Skies: Law Enforcement, Drones, and Public Safety,” held on Tuesday, July 22, Cruz said that “drones have become a weapon,” a “delivery system for terror.”

He asserted that they are not only used for drug trafficking, but also for “spying, attacking civilians, assassinating leaders, crashing airplanes, and destroying buildings.” They are, he said, “the modern face of war” and have become an “immediate threat to our national security.”

Cruz specifically referred to the situation on the southern border and the skill with which Mexican cartels currently use drones.

“On our southern border, cartels now operate fleets of drones, smuggling fentanyl, coordinating illegal crossings, and blocking U.S. surveillance. They’ve formed specialized drone units. They’ve dropped bombs [on Mexican soil]. They’ve deployed signal jammers,” the Republican senator from Texas denounced.

With drones, he asserted, they are also “transporting weapons, phones, and drugs” into the United States, including into federal prisons. What’s worse, he said, “Drones are currently outpacing our law enforcement on every front.”