Cartels have conducted 155,000 drone overflights along the U.S. border: CBP

MEXICO CITY (apro).- Since February 2022, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has recorded more than 155,000 drone overflights over the border, allegedly operated by criminal groups from Mexico to cross people and, on rare occasions, to traffic drugs, said Gloria Chávez, chief of patrol for the border patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector.

According to the officer, CBP considers these drones a "very serious" threat, which is why the U.S. government is investing in technology and infrastructure to address this situation.

In a virtual conference with the Mexican press organized by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, Gloria Chávez insisted that the Donald Trump administration prioritizes the capture and deportation of migrants, and boasted a 71% drop in irregular crossings into her country.

Continuing the tone that permeates Donald Trump's team, the woman insisted that CBP already has its "doors open" to prosecutors' offices and is cooperating with the soldiers deployed by the new administration on its border with Mexico. She maintained that detained Mexicans will be deported "not at their point of entry (on the border), but to the interior of Mexico or to the south."

The official thus emulated the speech of Kristi Noem, head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who spearheaded media campaigns in Latin American countries to discourage migration.

One of these spots aired on Televisa during a soccer match, sparking outrage and leading the Sheinbaum administration to introduce a reform to prohibit the broadcast of foreign government propaganda on licensed television.

With her impeccable Spanish and Mexican accent, Chief Chávez, a native of Brownsville, Texas, reiterated some of the data that DHS boasts about in terms of combating migration: she asserted that the Trump administration has operated more than 76 deportation flights to various Central and South American countries, and another 40 to Mexico, and reaffirmed that the U.S. administration is "immediately" deporting undocumented immigrants caught trying to cross.

"I've never seen this kind of investment in technology, personnel, and infrastructure, because they've already begun to provide and want to invest in more walls along the border," the official stated, adding that "this administration is very focused on the consequences" for those who try to enter without documents.