Cartel drones packed with explosives are flying just south of Arizona’s border with Mexico, The Post has learned, alarming Senate defense hawks who are pushing for legislation to counter novel aerial incursions into the US.
Members of Los Salazar, a cell of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, are using drones “to drop explosives” on Los Pelones, an independent rival cartel, as part of ongoing conflict in Sonoyta, Mexico, according to an internal bulletin circulated by the US Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector Intelligence Unit on Tuesday.
The small town in Sonora sits roughly two miles from the US-Mexico border.
“Other confrontations between these two organizations have occurred along the border,” the bulletin also notes.
In March, a top general revealed in congressional testimony that more than 1,000 drones per month are crossing into US airspace near the border with Mexico, which he warned was a “growing” potential threat to national security.
“I don’t know the actual number — I don’t think anybody does — but it’s in the thousands,” Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of North American Defense Command and US Northern Command, said in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“We … probably have over 1,000 a month,” Guillot estimated.
Senate Republican lawmakers are becoming increasingly concerned that the drone threat has fallen on deaf ears at the Pentagon, which is tasked with protecting US airspace as part of its Title 10 authority.
One amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) would force the Pentagon to take countermeasures against drones and other unmanned aircraft systems crossing the northern or southern US borders.
“On Border Czar Kamala Harris’ watch, murderous drug cartels are controlling the southern border and using drones for turf war attacks 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 by any means necessary.”
By Josh Christenson and Jennie Taer
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