Flights to CBP predatory drones on La are a dangerous escalation

United Wednesday States Customs and Border Protection confirmed to 404 media That he made predatory drones fly on Los Angeles among the Los Angeles protests. Military drones declared a CBP declaration: “They support our federal partners for the application of the law in the large area of ​​Los Angeles, including immigration and customs application, with the air support of their operations”.

The police officers in the United States use various types of drones and other vehicles, such as helicopters, to conduct air surveillance and other agencies also use drones in their operations. For example, the Department of Silviciculture and Fire Protection of California “doubled its use of drones” this year, second The office of the Governor Gavin Newsom, as part of the efforts to combat forest fires. However, the drones of CBP Mq-9 reaper, also known as Droni Predator B, are UAV of military caliber used for the aerial reconnaissance that can be armed.

In 2020, during the first administration of President Donald Trump, the CBP made a predator drone fly on Minneapolis during the protests of George Floyd. And, in the following years, the researchers monitored the predatory drones of the National Security Department that fly on various US cities without a clear explanation. In the case of Los Angeles, Trump deployed more than 700 marines active and federated the national guard, sending almost 4,000 guards to California for newsom’s objections. In combination with these actions, the presence of the drones of the CBP paints a picture of the expansion of federal involvement and potentially controls – compared to those that are generally state issues.

“The military tools have been used for domestic law enforcement officers for a long time, but flying military equipment on Los Angeles at a time when the president sent military units against the governor’s desires is noteworthy,” says Matthew DEEEEY, a researcher of emerging technologies for a long time and responsible for the defense of the group of civil freedoms of the United Kingdom. “If the federal government portrays immigration as a national security problem, we should not be surprised if it openly uses national security tools, military hardware, in response.”

By transporting powerful cameras and other sensors, predatory drones can record clear and detailed movies of events such as high altitudes protests.

“Air and Marine Operations (Amo) of CBP is providing air support to the partners of the Federal police who lead operations in the large area of ​​Los Angeles”, said CBP to Wired in a declaration in response to questions about the fact that the operation on the SIA of routine or anomalous. “The efforts of love focus on situational awareness and support for the safety of officers as required.”

Patrick Eddington, an elderly member of national security and civil freedoms of the Cato Institute, warns that “the more the protests have spread to other cities, more than that type of surveillance we will see”.

CBP has declared to 404 average this week that “I love is not engaged in surveillance of the activities of the first amendment”. This statement aligns aa I commit The Department of National Security of the United States made in December 2015. “The registered data of the aeronautical system without pilot should not be collected, disseminated or detained exclusively for the purpose of monitoring the activities protected by the establishment of the United States, such as the religions of religions of the first amendment, civil rights and civil religions and civil religions and civil religions for the religious, of civil religions and of civil religions civil and civil religions for the religious and group ” he wrote At the moment.

In practice, however, it is not clear that the surveillance of predators can “support” Ice agents and other federal police without monitoring protests and capturing images of demonstrators.

While researchers note that the use of predatory drones on Los Angeles is not unprecedented – and, at this point, perhaps not surprising – they underline that this model of activities over time makes only the federal government to line up this monitoring in the future, regardless of how a state is managing a situation.

“It is not new or even so unexpected by a scared Trump administration, but it is still a terrible use of military technology on civil populations,” says researcher UAV Faine Greenwood. “Basically a worrying trend is continuing, but people should also be angry and refuse to normalize it.”