McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the United States will cut red tape to get more military drones up in the air, a border lawmaker says that also needs to happen to get more drones up along the Southwest border by the Department of Homeland Security.
Hegseth last week announced in a video posted to X a major overhaul in the U.S. military drone policy. He said the Pentagon is cutting “red tape” to speed up drone production. And he wants service members from all military branches trained in drone operations.
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, recently told Border Report that the procurement process for DHS border law enforcement is also cumbersome and slow and that Mexican cartels are able to launch thousands of drones over the U.S. border because they pay for them with cash.
“We’re at a disadvantage in many ways when it comes to the drones used by the cartels,” said Cuellar, who sits on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
“Drones are something that we need to use more of the drones, because we’ve seen, all the possibilities and opportunities that drones can provide,” he said. “The U.S. has to do a better job at using drones, but also countering drones and the procurement process is part of the issue that we need to address. The the cartels don’t go through a procurement process. They have the money go by and, boom, use them. That’s what they use. That’s their procurement process. Ours’, you know, you got to go and, you know, there’s a whole process, and it takes such a long time.”
On June 11, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to accelerate domestic drone production. The order secured supply chains, and reduces reliance on adversarial nations to “empower our domestic drone economy to assist with critical infrastructure, emergency response, and long-distance cargo and medical delivery.”
The executive order also mentions border surveillance and says the United States will “address the growing threats from criminal, terrorist, and foreign misuse of drones inside U.S. airspace. This administration is securing our borders against aerial threats by cracking down on unlawful drone activity and prioritizing real-time detection and identification of drones to safeguard national security.”
“Hegseth says he is lifting “restrictive policies that stifle production and this will unleash American manufacturing and the ingenuity of our war fighters.”
He said the United States will immediately begin producing thousands of drones and arm combat units with “low-cost American crafted drones” with regards to military operations.
“This is the future,” Hegseth said on the video that was made in front of the Pentagon with several drones buzzing about him. “We’re in the fight to win it.”
Several Stryker military units that last week arrived in the South Texas border to the Laredo area along with hundreds of new soldiers have equipment to detect and counter Mexican drones, Cuellar said.
It’s unclear whether the procurement process for drones also will be streamlined for the Department of Homeland Security.
Border Report has asked DHS officials if this will occur and if more drones will be launched on the Southwest border. This story will be updated if information is received.
Meanwhile, a sheriff’s department in Cochise County, Arizona, says it plans to use drones to help its deputies patrol areas near the Mexican border. They hope to launch their first drones this fall and site the president’s executive order as encouraging the development and commercializing of American unmanned aerial systems or UAVs.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
