Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo West Station were able to locate a missing child using a drone equipped with an infrared system, authorities said.
The agents were notified of a missing child in the area, with one of them thinking about using a drone to search for him in the vast area near the southern border, according to an article by El Paso Inc.
The drone was equipped with an infrared system, commonly used to detect and scan both people and animals, as well as other elements producing heat. Thanks to this device, the child was located hundreds of yards away at the bottom of the riverbank.
The drone operator guided agents and the sheriff's office to recover the child, according to the Border Patrol.
Drones have come to the forefront of Texas border policy as part of the implementation of Gov. Greg Abbot's controversial Operation Lone Star program in March 2021.
DPS Colonel Steve McCraw said before the state Senate Committee on Border Security that the Texas National Guard began a drone program in January 2023 aimed at reducing the need for large troop deployments to the border and future operational costs.}
He said that there are now 32 teams, including 74 pilots, patrolling the southern border.
"So instead of having troops along this whole border, maybe it's just a smaller group of troops," said Major General Thomas Suelzer at the comittee.
"But the drones and cameras are watching and alerting in time so that a group of troops can respond."
However, these devices are also used to explore the border from Mexico "in thousands," warned Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, a senior Pentagon official, at a Senate hearing in March, according to an article in Fox News.
"The number of incursions was something that was alarming to me as I took command last month," Guillot told the senator Ted Budd, who had asked him about the issue at the hearing.
"I don't know the actual number – I don't think anybody does – but it's in the thousands."
Budd pressed for what time frame Guillot was referencing in regard to the "thousands" of drone incursions. Guillot responded, "I would say in probably over a month we could probably have over 1,000 a month."
Guillot additionally expressed concern with Chinese nationals crossing the U.S. border from South America. "The number of Chinese that are coming across the border is a big concern of mine. In fact, in the short period of time that I've been in command, I've gone down to the southern border to talk to the agents and leadership about that. And then I've also spoken with the acting commissioner of the CBP on this subject," Guillot said.
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