Texas sheriff tells Congress nearly 2,000 Mexican drug cartel drones have breached US airspace – Law Officer

BROOKS COUNTY, Texas — Sheriff Urbino “Benny” Martinez of Brooks County in Texas will reportedly sound the alarm before Congress regarding the mass incursion of drones illegally entering U.S. airspace from Mexico. The sheriff says they are piloted by cartels and used to spy on federal agents working near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sheriff Martinez is scheduled to tell Democrats and Republicans during the House GOP’s first hearing on the Texas border on Wednesday evening that local and state law enforcement authorities have witnessed nearly 2,000 drones flying overhead in three Texas counties during the past month, reported the Washington Examiner. 

According to the sheriff, members of criminal organizations in Mexico that smuggle people and drugs into the U.S. are the individuals who are piloting the drones. They use the UAVs to see where law enforcement authorities are positioned and what areas are open.

“In the past 31 days of 2023, there have been 1,937 Mexican Cartel drone’s incursions in three South Texas border counties,” according to a preview of Martinez’s remarks as a witness in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s joint subcommittee hearing.

The sheriff’s testimony comes as the federal government seeks to figure out why and how a large Chinese balloon had been maneuvered through U.S. airspace earlier this month.