Sunday, March 14, 2010

PLN 17

Drone silently patrol U.S. borders from CNN

This article discusses how U.A.V.'s(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are flying over the American-Mexican border in search of illegal immigrants or anyone suspected of being an illegal alien. The Predator B, the specific U.A.V. that is being used, flies 19,000 feet above ground at speeds of up to 276 miles per hour. This method is what The Office of Customs and Border Protection uses to keep the borders clean from unwanted visitors. This method has some pros and cons to it. A pro is that the aircraft can watch over any area of the U.S. border that Border Patrol agents cannot reach. A con is the price, the plane costs millions of dollars. The Predator B camera alone can cost $2 million dollars, to give an idea on how much the plane can cost. The drones' range of surveillance doesn't completely cover the Mexican-American border, Texas is one state who does not have a drone flying out at night unlike Arizona or California. Not only that but the U.A.V.'s can not see through bad weather and believe it or not some of them have been crashed. Crash landing endangers the lives of people, American or Mexican citizens, crossing the border. Also why does the United States government spend millions of dollars on planes that only provide a limited amount of sight from the sky for Border Patrol agents? That money can be used for other things such as cures for disease and illness. I believe the American government is spending too much money to keep our borders secure. I think the borders should be kept safe but with less funding. Millions of dollars can be used to hire Border Patrol workers instead of drones.

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