Equipped with thermal detection and night-vision equipment, the two Hermes 450 Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) flew their first missions June 25 to patrol what the Department of Homeland Security says is the busiest crossing point along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

The two drones are part of a $10 billion operation begun last March. It includes six new prosecutors, an additional 260 border cops, a temporary detention facility, four new helicopters—on top of the already 11-helicopter fleet operating there—and 20 more Humvee military vehicles..

Similar types of unmanned aircraft have been used by the U.S. military and the CIA in Afghanistan and Yemen, for surveillance, and, in several instances, to assassinate Washington’s opponents in these countries. The Israeli armed forces also use the Hermes 450 to patrol Israel’s borders.

In addition to stepping up the patrol of streets, railways, and waterways, the police and the military have expanded their presence in the skies, using fighter and surveillance aircraft over U.S. cities.

The increased militarization of the border, along with factory raids and deportations in cities in that area, are forcing workers to cross through more remote, desert locations. This has resulted in record numbers of deaths of immigrant workers trying to cross from Mexico into the United States.

So far this year 17 people have been reported dead of heat-related suffocation in the Arizona desert.

“It’s like throwing an infant in a pool and then jumping in and saving it. You act like the hero in a situation you created,” said Kat Rodriguez of the Human Rights Coalition of Arizona. The Border Patrol agency reported it has carried out 330,000 arrests since October 1 along the Arizona border.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it also plans to begin flying drones in the northern states and in Puerto Rico.  
 
 
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