Mexican Army intercepts a drone from a criminal group that crossed from the U.S.

Mexico City - Mexico's Defense Secretariat reported Thursday the detection and disabling of a drone used by a criminal group that crossed from the United States into Tijuana to surveil "illicit human smuggling routes," in an operation carried out with information shared by U.S. border authorities.

The operation took place last Monday, one day before a binational meeting with representatives of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency to assess progress under Operation High Eagle, the agency detailed.

The Mexican Defense Secretariat states that it intercepted "a commercially-grade drone that entered" Mexican territory from the United States, "which was being used by a criminal group to monitor routes used for the illicit smuggling of people into that country."

The action also resulted in the arrest of the alleged drone operator, as well as the seizure of a handgun, magazines, ammunition and a drone controller, it added.

Finally, the Defense Secretariat underscored its "commitment to strengthening border security, based on the principles of reciprocity, shared and differentiated responsibility, mutual trust, and respect for the sovereign decisions and territories of both nations."

The incident occurred one week after the launch of Operation High Eagle, in which Mexico deployed 800 military personnel and equipment capable of disabling drones within a three-kilometer radius.

The deployment was activated along the Tijuana-San Diego corridor, from August 31 to September 21, as part of coordinated actions with U.S. agencies, replicating a similar scheme previously applied in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

The action coincides with a migration policy that has favored the containment of transit toward the United States. According to U.S. Border Patrol data, migrant encounters at the border with Mexico fell more than 84% between 2024 and fiscal year 2025, dropping from more than 1.5 million to 237,538.

In parallel, Mexico maintains 10,000 National Guard members deployed along the entire northern border, in addition to between 3,000 and 3,300 military personnel regularly stationed in border states.