Judicial Watch spoke with a senior Homeland Security, interviewed federal officials at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, and even filed a Freedom of Information Act request with CBP to investigate the use of drones by Mexican drug cartels to surveil federal, state, county, and city agencies and conduct nefarious activities on the border.

CBP officials on the ground told the conservative activist group that cartels used drones for surveillance during human smuggling and drug trafficking operations into the US. They said the drones, many of which can be readily bought off the internet or at a big box retailer, are being used to spot gaps in the border coverage, as well as create diversions in certain areas to confuse CBP agents while smugglers move high-value assets across the border in other locations.