Hundreds of suspected cartel drones – some carrying explosives – are flying near the southern border

The Post reports that cartel drones loaded with explosives are flying just south of the Arizona-Mexico border, raising concerns among defense advocates in the Senate, who are pushing for legislation to prevent new airstrikes on the U.S.

Members of Los Salazar, a cell of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, are using drones “to drop explosives” on Los Pelones, an independent rival cartel, as part of the ongoing conflict in Sonoyta, Mexico, according to an internal bulletin released Tuesday by the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector Intelligence Unit.

The town in Sonora is located about two miles from the US-Mexico border.

“Further confrontations have occurred between these two organizations along the border,” the bulletin said.

In March, a top general revealed in Congressional testimony that more than 1,000 drones a month are flying into U.S. airspace near the Mexico border, which he said poses a “growing” potential threat to national security.

“I don’t know the actual number — I don’t think anyone does — but it’s in the thousands,” Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of the North American Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We…probably have over 1,000 a month,” Guillot estimated.

Republican lawmakers in the Senate are increasingly concerned that the drone threat has fallen on deaf ears at the Pentagon, which is required to protect U.S. airspace as part of its Title 10 authority.

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2025, introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), would force the Pentagon to take countermeasures against drones and other unmanned aircraft systems that cross the U.S. northern or southern borders.

“Under the watch of Border Czar Kamala Harris, murderous drug cartels control the southern border and use drones to launch raids on territory within miles of the United States,” Ernst told The Post. “These thugs must be held accountable. That’s why I’m equipping the Pentagon to respond to these incursions with every possible means.”

The legislation would create a task force to combat unmanned aircraft systems (CUAS) and implement various reporting requirements for unmanned airstrikes in U.S. airspace.

The text further includes a requirement that the Pentagon conduct an exercise on how to “respond to a variety of threats to Department (of Defense) installations from unmanned aerial vehicles.”

The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Defense Committee also made comments about the fragility of national security in an April op-ed for the Washington Post.

“Our country lacks adequate drone detection capabilities,” wrote Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). “We still rely on the early warning radars that served us so well during the Cold War.”

“Today, however, they are unable to detect, identify, and track small aircraft at both high and low altitudes,” they said. “Within the United States, we can track virtually nothing other than commercial aircraft. Almost none of our domestic military bases have the sensors to identify small drones.”

The solutions were proposed following reports of drone-controlled surveillance of US military bases, as well as direct intrusions into their airspace.

“There is no reason to think the challenge will be limited to the skies over Iraq and Israel; it could threaten the United States, and quickly,” Wicker later posted on X. “That means U.S. policymakers have no time to waste in creating a better blueprint for drone defense.”

While the House of Representatives passed its version of the annual defense bill last month, the Senate has yet to take up the measure. Wicker accuses House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) of unnecessarily delaying its consideration before the summer recess in August.

Sources close to Capitol Hill told The Post that the NDAA likely won’t be considered until after September, with the month instead devoted to Democratic message priorities, including Schumer’s “No Kings Act” to overturn the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

But another source indicated that there were still sticking points on bipartisan issues in the NDAA, as well as on some climate-related provisions, that needed to be resolved.

A spokesperson for Schumer did not respond to a request for comment.

Several border agents told The Post they are aware of drone raids, saying the devices are often used by cartels in Mexico to monitor law enforcement operations on the U.S. side of the border.

In 2023, Customs and Border Protection said human smugglers were using drones to “surveillance” the Border Patrol, which the agency called a “growing trend.”

The Mexican military recently announced that drug cartels have used drones to drop bombs, killing Mexican soldiers more than 1,000 miles from the U.S. border in Michoacán, Mexico, the Associated Press reported.

Residents of Michoacan, where the Jalisco drug cartel is battling for power, said the explosive drone attacks are happening daily.

Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately commented when asked by The Post on Wednesday.