By Susan Carroll, The Arizona Republic
For the first time, the Border Patrol will use unmanned aircraft on the U.S.-Mexican border, putting two drones into flight over remote areas of Arizona this summer to spot undocumented immigrants.
The $4 million Hermes 450 Unmanned Air Vehicles, or UVAs, will be deployed as part of an intensified crackdown along the 350-mile Arizona border with Mexico, the Border Patrol announced Tuesday in Tucson.
In the past, when agents recorded a hit on a sensor buried along popular migrant trails, the agency would dispatch an agent on the ground or a piloted helicopter to check it out.
The UVA, which flies at up to 22,000 feet and has a 34-foot wingspan, will transmit pictures so detailed that agents will be able to see if undocumented immigrants on the ground are carrying backpacks, said David Aguilar, chief of the patrol’s Tucson sector.
Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said if the testing is successful in Arizona, the use of UVAs may be expanded to other areas of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.