Mayorkas said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week that there is an increase in sightings in part because the FAA changed the rules so drones could fly at night.
“There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States, recreational drones, commercial drones. That is the reality, and in September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night, and that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk,” he said.
Mayorkas then called for Congress to expand the powers of government to allow DHS to “address the drone situation.”
“So that is the reality, but I want to assure the American public that we are on it,” he said. “We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities, and it is critical, as we all have said, for a number of years, that we need from Congress, additional authorities to address the drone situation. Our authorities currently are limited, and they are set to expire. We need them extended and expanded.”
“We want state and local authorities to also have the ability to counter drone activity under federal supervision. That is one important element that we have requested, and we’ve heard it echoed by the state and local officials themselves,” he added.
When asked by host George Stephanopoulos to address President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for the government to shoot down the drones, Mayorkas insisted DHS was “limited in our authorities.”
“Well, we are aware of the drone sightings. As I’ve said, I think there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the United States,” he said. “With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities. We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that, and outside our department, but we need those authorities expanded as well.”
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