Hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that federal intervention may be necessary if riots in Minneapolis, Minnesota continued, outrage over a “predator drone” sighting swelled. Some noted that a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) drone took off on Friday morning, reportedly from the Grand Forks, N.D. area, and flew over Minneapolis before apparently returning to its base.
NOW: @CBP Predator Drone #CPB104 circling over Minneapolis at 20K feet. Took off from Grand Forks Air Force Base. #Minneapolisprotests #surveillance #planespotting pic.twitter.com/hVYF4GXe1Y
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) May 29, 2020
Predator now deviating from flight path, flying directly over city. pic.twitter.com/Df7r6Oe91o
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) May 29, 2020
aircraft appears to be leaving Minneapolis, possibly returning to base pic.twitter.com/EXnk1kHec8
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) May 29, 2020
The information was not well received by many watching closely about the government’s response to demonstrations over the alleged murder of George Floyd.
To reiterate, this is the U.S. flying a Predator drone, a technology often used to hunt and kill terrorists overseas, to monitor people who are protesting a white police officer killing an unarmed black man https://t.co/A0IS67U6Gq
— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) May 29, 2020
Now @VICE reporting that @CBP is sending predator drones over #GeorgeFloyd protests in Minneapolis.
This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked.
We need answers. And we need to defund. https://t.co/tfBZFRNI9G
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/webster/status/1266471988438069248?s=20
In a Friday evening statement to Law&Crime, a CBP spokesperson claimed the “unmanned aircraft system” did nothing more than provide another set of eyes in the sky:
“Earlier today a U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations unmanned aircraft system was preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis. The unmanned aircraft system provides live video feed to ground law enforcement, giving them situational awareness, maximizing public safety, while minimizing the threat to personnel and assets.
After arriving into the Minneapolis airspace, the requesting agency determined that the aircraft was no longer needed for operational awareness and departed back to Grand Forks.
CBP AMO routinely conducts operations with other federal, state, and local law enforcement entities to assist law enforcement and humanitarian relief efforts.
AMO carries out its mission nationwide, not just at the border, consistent with federal laws and policies. During humanitarian missions AMO regularly deploys the unmanned aircraft system to assist FEMA in assessing hurricane affected areas, in coordination with the National Weather Service to capture imagery of storm impacted areas, and with federal, state and local partners to conduct search and rescue missions, in addition to its law enforcement mission.”
[Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.]
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