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Crédit photo : Borderlines, http://borderlinesblog.blogspot.frBorder Wars: Drone Deployment Out of Control?, Devon G. Peña , January 26, 2013, mexmigration.blogspot"Moderator’s Note: Last August, we reported on the threats posed by the deployment of drones along the United States-Mexico border noting that, “…the future of drone technology…the use of UAVs [Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles] by the Border Patrol and other federal and local police agencies clearly represent a ready-made threat to our civil liberties…UAV technology also represents a threat to the lives of undocumented immigrants who are being driven into ever more isolated and dangerous terrain during their journeys to the U.S. in search of jobs or families.”Now comes this more detailed report from our colleague Tom Barry who is the director of the TransBorder Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC. Mr. Barry, a long-time student of the border who literally pioneered the study of environmental problems along the 2,000-mile international boundary, presents more disturbing news about the deployment of a technology developed for war. Barry’s investigation revealed that there “is no public record of where and when DHS [Department of Homeland Security] drones have been deployed.” Moreover, Customs and Border Protection [CBP] has apparently “made its drones available to assist local law enforcement agencies in operations unrelated to border security.”Finally, Barry notes that the drone deployment is riddled with inefficiencies and non-mission related expenditures at a time when it even lacks a formal operational budget. Despite the lack of an operational budget, the acquisition of new drones continues unabated. To us, this sounds a lot like welfare for corporations that manufacture drones and drone parts..."Read :Tom Barry,  Border security drones on the ground without strategy or budget, December 30, 2012http://mexmigration.blogspot.frorhttp://borderlinesblog.blogspot.fr/2012/12/border-security-drones-on-ground.htmlSee also :Drone (un)Ethics on the Border Philosophers rationalize drone patrols, Devon G. Peña, August 11, 2012, mexmigration.blogspot.fr"There is a saying, “All’s fair in love and war,” that takes on new meaning with the increasing use of Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or ‘drones.’ There is a fierce political and ethical debate surrounding the use of drones by the U.S. military and in particular the deployment of this technology as an assassination weapon in the so-called “War on Terror.” Less concern has been expressed over the deployment of drones as a border control and surveillance technology along the 2000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico international boundary. We can discern much about the state of exception in the U.S. by analyzing the striking convergence between what philosophers are saying about the ethics of the use of drones in Pakistan tribal areas and other locales subject to this assassination program and what partisans are touting in the context of the politics of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, understood as a different kind of war zone..."Read : http://mexmigration.blogspot.frDevon G. Peña,A lifelong activist in the environmental justice and resilient agriculture movements, Devon G. Peña is a Professor of American Ethnic Studies, Anthropology, and Environmental Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. He also works on the family's historic acequia farm in San Acacio, Colorado. A pioneering interdisciplinary research scholar and widely-cited author, his most recent books include Mexican Americans and the Environment: Tierra y Vida (U. of Arizona Press, 2005) and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (senior editor, Oxford University Press, 2005). Dr. Peña is the Founder and President of The Acequia Institute, the nation's first Latina/o charitable foundation dedicated to supporting research and education for the environmental and food justice movements. (self presentation)See his blogs :Social Scientists on Immigration Policy : http://stopdeportationsnow.blogspot.fr/Mexmigration: History and Politics of Mexican Immigration: http://mexmigration.blogspot.fr/