{"id":33628,"date":"2025-02-18T09:23:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T09:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/18\/new-cartel-threats-against-border-agents-explosives-drones-and-wireless-tracking\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T09:23:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T09:23:21","slug":"new-cartel-threats-against-border-agents-explosives-drones-and-wireless-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/18\/new-cartel-threats-against-border-agents-explosives-drones-and-wireless-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"New cartel threats against border agents: Explosives, drones and wireless tracking"},"content":{"rendered":"

As President Donald Trump<\/a> steps up border security and deportation efforts, agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are finding themselves under alarmingly sophisticated threats to their safety, an expert tells Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

“The cartels are losing business. The encounters at the border are the lowest they\u2019ve been in decades, and the cartels are not just going to give up that business quietly,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The comments come after it was reported over the weekend that CBP agents<\/a> will no longer wear body cameras during field operations, a response to a post on Reddit that claimed it could help people track agents wearing the cameras with an application called BLE Radar, which uses Bluetooth to scan for such devices within a 100-yard radius.<\/p>\n

BORDER PATROL AGENTS TO STOP WEARING BODY CAMERAS AFTER SOCIAL MEDIA POST REVEALS \u2018SECURITY RISK\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Pending completion of investigation and risk mitigation, all Agents will stand down the use of their BWCs [body worn cameras] until further notice. Additional guidance and information will be disseminated as it is received,” a directive over the weekend announced.<\/p>\n

While the tracking of agents was presented as a way to help immigrants<\/a> find soft spots on the border, it also opened up agents to threats to their safety, including from improvised explosive devices.<\/p>\n

Cartels could also make use of the tracking information to threaten the lives of agents, Ries noted.<\/p>\n

“It is possible that they could use the cameras\u2026 the low-level frequency interception to track the agents, harm the agents, and attack the agents,” Ries said.<\/p>\n

Ries also noted that the cameras played an important role in protecting field agents from false claims of abuse, providing key evidence they now won’t have after encounters with migrants.<\/p>\n

DAILY AVERAGE OF KNOWN GOTAWAYS AT SOUTHERN BORDER PLUMMETS, DOWN 93% FROM BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HIGHS<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I anticipate the number of claims of abuse are about to jump to exploit this lack of camera use,” Ries said.<\/p>\n

When it comes to cartels, Ries noted that there have been warnings sent out that cartels could use shooters on the other side of the border to target agents.<\/p>\n

“I just saw a memo about potentially using a shooter on the Mexican side to shoot at our agents and our military, so we have to assume that\u2019s being planned and use countermeasures against it,” Ries said.<\/p>\n

Ries also noted that cartels have in the past effectively used drones to track CBP agents, though that threat could now be lower with the increased military presence at the border.<\/p>\n

Aside from the threats from cartels<\/a>, CBP and ICE agents also face dangers from inside the borders of the U.S., Ries noted, pointing to leaks of ICE raids as an example of something that has recently endangered agents.<\/p>\n

“That subjects ICE agents to an ambush,”\u00a0Ries said. “It\u2019s one thing for aliens to flee, so when ICE shows up there\u2019s no one there\u2026 worse would be if aliens stay here and attack ICE agents, that is a risk.”<\/p>\n

Such leaks of planned operations and technological vulnerabilities could continue to be a threat to the safety of agents as those opposed to Trump\u2019s enforcement-driven agenda seek to undermine those plans, Ries said.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Countering such threats will not only take awareness and smart tactics during operations, but also help from Congress in order to secure funding to equip agents with enough resources to combat the dangers.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s technology, it\u2019s equipment, it\u2019s intel, and personnel\u2026 they can\u2019t be out patrolling alone, they need to work together,” Ries said. “Congress is working, although too slowly, getting resources to CBP and ICE to continue to carry out these mass deportations. Congress needs to hurry up.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As President Donald Trump steps up border security and deportation efforts, agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are finding themselves under alarmingly sophisticated threats to their safety, an expert tells Fox News Digital. “The cartels are losing business. The encounters at the border are the lowest they\u2019ve been … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}