An unmanned U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service drone helped save the lives of three immigrants who were entering the country illegally when they got lost crossing the southern Arizona desert this week.
Section Chief John Lawson said the drone was deployed after the migrants placed a 911 call, saying they were in urgent need of medical care,
“These unmanned aircraft systems are out there looking for any signs of movement and they just scan back and forth and they let people on the ground know if there’s movement, what’s out there. To give us some situational awareness,” Lawson said.
Lawson said within about 10 minutes of the distress, call the drone was able to detect some movement in the area where the migrants had placed the call.