MINNEAPOLIS — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced this week that the agency will begin operating MQ-9 Reaper drones, insisting Americans have “absolutely nothing to worry about.”
Agency leaders said the aircraft will primarily conduct “peacekeeping operations” in areas where ICE personnel have recently experienced elevated levels of accountability.
Officials said the program was necessary because of recruiting shortages.
“The mission expanded faster than staffing,” one senior official said. “Fortunately, America has spent the last twenty years building an industrial base capable of producing large numbers of remotely piloted aircraft designed to observe, track, and occasionally eliminate people.”
“Now we finally have someone to use them on.”
ICE Director Todd Lyons said the drones complement the agency's existing operational model.
“We already have officers wearing masks,” Lyons said. “Now we will have anonymous aerial capabilities as well."
According to agency officials, the Reapers will carry a new generation of “less-lethal” rubber Hellfire missiles. Each missile weighs approximately 216 pounds and consists primarily of rubber wrapped around a metal core.
“They're designed to strike the ground immediately before striking the crowd,” Lyons explained. “That's what makes them less lethal.”
Civil liberties groups questioned the terminology.
“'Less lethal' is a strange way to describe an object roughly the size and weight of a vending machine falling from several thousand feet,” one attorney said.
The first aircraft assigned to the program, call sign YIPPEEKIYAY-88, completed initial qualification this week.
Asked for comment, the aircraft transmitted:
01110000 01101111 01100111 01100111 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101101 01110000
Officials said the aircraft had also requested a $50,000 reenlistment bonus and a 29% APR loan on a Dodge Charger.
At press time, YIPPEEKIYAY-88 had been lost in a friendly-fire incident after another Reaper mistakenly identified it as a suspicious gathering.
Grumpy contributed to this story.
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