At least 10,000 cartel drones flew over the border in 2022

Gloria Chavez, head of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector (Texas), went to Congress to talk about the chaotic situation at the border and revealed that during the past year more than 10,000 illegal drone incursions from Mexico were identified.

Chavez explained that Mexican cartels use the drones to see where the Border Patrol is located to determine through which areas they can smuggle weapons and drugs into the US. He also pointed out that his department is "saturated" due to a lack of personnel and resources, given the large number of migrants who are arriving in the country irregularly.

John Modlin, a senior border patrol official in the Tucson, Arizona sector, appeared before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee to tell the House of Representatives that there is a serious problem with cartels in his sector as well. According to his testimony, criminal groups are employing a plurality of tactics to "saturate" the Border Guard's capacity.

Border crisis

Last year, there were at least 2.3 million Border Patrol encounters with immigrants, an all-time high. According to Customs and Border Protection, 38 individuals identified as terrorists were intercepted in October, November and December 2022 alone, which is extremely worrisome considering that the highest number of recent border escapes was also recorded.

In November of last year were more than 73,000 immigrants who managed to illegally enter the U.S. This shows that there is a large number of people in the country of whom there is no information and who move around the national territory without the slightest control.