Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general calling on the Trump administration to extend drone-interdiction authority to state and local law enforcement, as correctional facilities across the country report a sharp rise in drones delivering drugs, weapons and cell phones directly onto prison grounds.
In a letter addressed to Dr. Sebastian Gorka, the White House’s senior director for counterterrorism, the attorneys general urged the administration’s Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty to carve out carefully defined authority allowing corrections officers and state law enforcement to detect, track and disable unauthorized drones before they reach prison perimeters.
Under current federal law, only a narrow set of federal agencies hold legal authority to intercept or disable drones, leaving corrections officers — often the first to spot an incoming aircraft — without the legal tools to act in real time.
“Corrections officers can see these drones coming, but can’t legally stop them,” Mr. Labrador said.
The coalition described the problem as a significant and growing public safety threat with consequences that extend well beyond prison walls. Smuggled narcotics have contributed to addiction, violence and overdose deaths inside facilities. Weapons have increased the risk of assaults and coordinated violence. Contraband cell phones, the letter noted, have enabled incarcerated individuals to continue operating criminal enterprises from their cells, including fraud schemes, witness intimidation and coordination of violent crime outside.
The attorneys general also called for expanded federal collaboration to investigate and prosecute individuals who deploy drones to introduce contraband into correctional facilities, framing the issue as one requiring both immediate operational relief for state officials and longer-term federal enforcement.
Drone-based contraband drops have emerged as one of the more vexing challenges facing prison administrators in recent years, as commercially available drones have become cheaper, faster and capable of carrying increasingly substantial payloads. Correctional systems in states including South Carolina, Maryland and Texas have reported hundreds of interdiction attempts, with many going undetected until contraband is discovered inside.