South Texas gets second UAV
South Texas is getting a second unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV to help patrol the Texas-Mexico border.
Congressional leaders representing South Texas have received word that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has chosen the South Texas area to be the recipient of the second drone.
The second drone will either arrive later this year or early next year.
In April U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, along with Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano asking for an increase in UAV coverage.
Officials reported that two UAVs were on order as part of H.R. 6080, the 2010 Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Bill, to be delivered by the end of this year.
The Texas-Mexico border has experienced an increase in the number of people trying to smuggle weapons and drugs into the United States over the past few years.
Cuellar has said the increase in seizures indicates the Rio Grande Valley appears to be one of many corridors that alleged drug smugglers are using to cross the illegal drugs from Mexico to the United States.
