Several news agencies have reported that high tech spy planes have flown at least 18 missions over the southwestern US and in international airspace near the Baja peninsula for the past two weeks in order to surveil the cartels and their operations in the Southwest border zone.
At least 11 missions were reportedly conducted by Navy P-8's a "particularly prized" plane with a sophisticated radar system that specializes in identifying submarines and can collect imagery and technological signals.
One flight was flown by a fabled U-2 spy plane, which became well known for spying on Russia and China.
Ira Mehlman is media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
"The cartels that have been running the human smuggling, human trafficking and drug trafficking operations, these are heavily armed militias essentially. On his first day in office, President Trump declared them to be foreign terrorist organizations, and as such, they require significant steps on the part of our government to protect the American people,” he said.
It’s a different day at the border
There are other signs of tensions rising between the U.S. and the cartels.
Last week the Mexican Senate approved the entry into the country for members of the U.S. Army’s 7th Special Forces Group, according to Border Report.
The Americans are fully armed in order to train marine infantry of the Mexican Navy.
Training is scheduled to continue through March 30 at the Luis Carpizo naval facility in the state of Campeche, says Senator Alejandro Moreno Cardenas, president of the Mexican Senate’s Naval Ministry Commission, via Border Report.
After Trump threatened tariffs, Mexico deployed 10,000 National Guard troops to the border (shown below) to assist with border security and to help stop the free flow of fentanyl across the border, The Associated Press reported.
The cartels are not sitting by idly.
Earlier this month leaked memos from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveal that cartels have authorized the use of weaponized drones against border agents and other U.S. law enforcement.
At least three different social media posts have threatened violence against U.S. agents, NewsNation reported.
Best technology necessary
Proper intelligence is required to protect the American people, and that calls for the best technology available, Mehlman said.
"We need to be able to see where they're headed in order to interdict them and turn them back. So these are the sorts of technologies that the government has at its disposal to monitor what these organizations are up to and to prevent them from doing harm to the American people."
