"An Arizona vigilante group is testing homemade drone reconnaissance planes on the U.S.-Mexican border to monitor illegal immigrants," Reuters reports.
Glenn Spencer, head of the American Border Patrol vigilante group, said on Tuesday the group has been testing two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for about a month and plans to have a fleet making passes over the border by early July...
The vigilantes say they plan to outfit each UAV with a global positioning device to pinpoint migrants, and then forward hose coordinates to the Border Patrol.
Dubbed the Border Hawk, the $5,000 drone has a wingspan of 5-1/2 feet and flies at an altitude of 300-400 feet -- under the 500 feet mandated for aircraft that need certification by the Federal Aviation Administration.
As previously noted, Congressmen and Department of Homeland Security higher-ups are all pushing to use drones to officially keep tabs on the Mexican border.
