Predator Drones Now Hunt For Illegal Immigrants Crossing US Border

 The US Homeland Security is now using the sophisticated military Predator drones to locate and track illegals crossing the US border along the Mexican border. These drones are the same ones used in Afghanistan with one difference, they are not armed with deadly missiles.

The drones fly out of their Antelope Valley airbase operated by a military contractor, General Atomics.  While this is new for the California-Mexican border, military drones have been flying along the Arizona border since 2005 and used along the Canadian border. Also different is that the B-type drones carry a special radar, cameras and sensors to detect humans at a cost of $13.5 million each and can fly up to 20 hrs without returning to base at a speed of 275 mph and so quiet that people on the ground cannot detect their presence (they fly at an altitude of 50,000 ft.). Known in the military as the "Predator", this version does not carry the deadly Hellfire missiles.

But the drones are not perfect. They can only fly in clear weather so controllers can visually see it, and for $13.5 million, a lot more less expensive items could be had to put in place along the border.