Drones Along Borders: Border Security UAVs in the United States and the European Union

Border control authorities, vigilantes, and criminal organizations use drones to track movement across the US-Mexican border. EU member states’ military drones patrol the Mediterranean Sea for migrants alongside drones operated by humanitarian organizations. This paper examines the complex security landscape that is unfolding as states deploy military drones for border security and non-state actors with sharply diverging motives develop their own drone surveillance capacities. We argue that border security drones have contrary political, policy, and ethical implications. First, the encroachment of military technologies into non-military security operations may have adverse security repercussions, but drones may also save migrants’ lives as they make dangerous journeys through deserts and across rough seas. Second, drone surveillance erodes privacy but also creates new accountability mechanisms. Finally, drones may obviate some visible signs of security, such as fences, while also introducing an invisible security apparatus that extends beyond state boundaries. These contradictory effects help to explain the complex policy formation processes underlying drone border security programs in the United States and Europe as well as the challenge of reaching clear answers about whether drone security is desirable.