• A CBP MQ-9 drone conducted an 800-mile mission deep into Mexico, marking the first confirmed U.S. military overflight targeting drug cartel territory under President Donald Trump's orders.

• Trump's directive to the Pentagon authorizes military force against cartels labeled as "terrorist organizations," a historic shift to combat the fentanyl crisis.

• Legal experts question whether the operation violates domestic and international law, citing constraints like the Posse Comitatus Act and precedents like the 1989 Panama invasion.

• The drone surveilled territory controlled by the La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), a group responsible for trafficking fentanyl, as part of a broader strategy targeting high-value cartel leaders.

• Mexico's government cooperated with the mission, raising concerns about escalating U.S. unilateral action in Latin America.

The U.S. government has crossed a symbolic threshold in its fight against transnational drug cartels, with a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) drone conducting a nearly 900-mile surveillance mission deep into Mexico. This unprecedented incursion, revealed through flight tracking data, reflects President Donald Trump's aggressive strategy to militarize the war on drugs. Flying aboard a CBP MQ-9 Guardian drone and coordinated with Mexican authorities, the mission signals a dangerous operational shift: the use of U.S. military assets to directly confront cartels deemed "foreign terrorist organizations" by the Trump administration.

The MQ-9's deep-South mission: Surveillance or prelude to strike?

On August 13, a CBP MQ-9 drone, tail-number CBP113, launched from San Angelo, Texas, and pierced 600 miles into southern Mexico, circling near cities controlled by the La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), a cartel linked to tens of thousands of U.S. overdose deaths. FlightRadar24 confirmed the drone's trajectory, which ended abruptly as it vanished from tracking systems mid-m