U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman discussed with FBI Director Kash Patel recent efforts to make reservations, such as the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, a priority in the federal fight on drugs and crime.
Patel said drug cartels are dropping their products from the air onto tribal reservations across the nation, and it’s time for federal authorities to launch counter-drone operations.
Hageman during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday pointed to the recent marshaling of around 100 agents to the Wind River Indian Reservation under interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the seat.
Patel said yes, the FBI “constantly” surges resources to tribal lands across the nation on a rotating basis; and those agents report back to their leaders about where more help is needed.
The answer to those needs is drones, Patel said.
“What we’ve found is, that most of these lands can be assisted by our counter UAS (unmanned aerial systems) program – our drone capabilities,” he said. “And we’re going to do it. Because what’s happening is the Mexican drug cartels are literally flying overhead, dropping their cargo — their narcotics — onto this land where no one’s looking.”
The drugs are disseminated to children, youth, and adults on those lands, “killing them,” said Patel, “and we gotta stop it before it gets dropped off.”
He later went on to say it’s “critically important” to continue congressional support for federal counter-drone capabilities ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, both featuring events in the U.S.
“We have to have it,” he said.
First, Epstein
Hageman’s discussion with Patel was a momentary reprieve from the hourslong grilling to which the committee subjected him, over his agency not releasing the files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking clients.
Hageman broached her questions with a jab at former President Joe Biden.
“One of the consequences of the Biden open border crisis, is the impact it continues to have on our tribal communities,” Hageman began. “The cartels (have been) taking advantage of our open borders, the Mexican drug cartels, by infiltrating our reservations and bringing violence, drugs, murder, trafficking and more.”
She said Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland last year claimed the U.S. Department of Justice did not have sufficient resources from Congress “to protect these communities.”
Patel said enforcement on tribal lands is one of the current FBI’s priorities.
Meeting with and staying in touch with tribal leaders is key, he continued.
“I need our police and FBI agents to be engaging with tribal leaders, otherwise we’re not going to break through,” said Patel.
He said the FBI has 1,900 cases in Indian country ongoing, and has seen 600 indictments this year alone.
Concerned With This
Patel did not specify whether the drug drones are visiting the Wind River.
The Northern Arapaho Business Council is looking into that, the panel’s spokesman said Tuesday.
NABC Chairman Keenan Groesbeck said in a Tuesday email that the tribal government shares Hageman’s concern about cartel-led drug trafficking and other criminal activity on the land.
“As always, we urge local, state and federal authorities to consult and coordinate with Tribal leaders regarding law enforcement operations on Tribal land,” added Groesbeck in an email sent via the NABC’s spokesman.
The FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced in February the arrest of a man dealing drugs on the reservation, who had “suspected” cartel ties.
Case defendant Oscar Duarte was sentenced in August to 15 years in prison, with deportation to follow.
The Eastern Shoshone Business Council did not respond to requests for confirmation and comment Tuesday by publication time.
The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes occupy the Wind River Indian Reservation together. Each has its own executive-branch government of five elected officials (NABC and ESBC), and a legislative-branch government comprised of every adult voting member of each tribe.
They share a tribal court, which handles civil matters and misdemeanor crimes.
But felony-level crimes, generally, go through the federal U.S. District Court for Wyoming – and are investigated generally by either the FBI or the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Wyoming tribes do not have their own police force, but are served by federal police.
Drone Issue
Patel’s comments followed a Sept. 16 hearing in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, where multiple drone experts testified of nefarious unmanned aircraft operations verging onto or near American soil.
“We continue to see rival cartels repeatedly conduct indiscriminate carpet-bombing attacks against other cartels, using explosive-laden drones,” said Brett Feddersen Vice President for Strategy and Government Affairs at D-Fend Solutions AD Inc, during that hearing.
“Last year,” Fedderson added, “U.S. authorities detected approximately 60,000 cartel drones near the border.”
He proposed Congress expand legal authority to track and identify drone threats, for basically all law enforcement ranging from federal to local to tribal, to trained security professionals protecting critical infrastructures.
He called for other solutions, like the expansion of a pilot program, and ways for law enforcement to review the Federal Aviation Administration’s drone registry through the agencies’ normal shared crime database, the same way they do with vehicle registrations and license plates.
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Robert Dooley, who is the state’s drone coordinator, said Congress should grant limited, controlled counter-drone authority to vetted and trained public safety entities under federal oversight.
FBI Wants More Authority
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Washington, Asked Patel what he needs to make America safer.
Giving the FBI more power and access to social media platforms’ functions is the answer to that, Patel claimed.
“Get us more authority to get online, to get onto social media companies, gaming platforms, have legal access and also have private partnerships with the FBI (and) those companies – and allow them to report to us on a daily basis,” he said. “We need… more authorities and we need the private sector to double down.”
The Biden administration also sought more access to social media companies’ inner workings, and gained access to their analytics during a 2021-2022 effort to suppress and censor anti-Covid-vaccine content, according to court documents.
Back To Biden, Though
Hageman during the Wednesday hearing diverted the conversation back to the Biden administration, asking Patel if Garland could have done more for reservation communities had he not launched resources investigating conservative groups.
“I do believe so,” said Patel.
Right-wing outlets last week reported that former special counsel Jack Smith’s office probed Turning Point USA, the group helmed by the late Charlie Kirk, under the Biden administration.
Kirk died of a gunshot wound to the neck Sept. 10. His alleged assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, has been charged in his killing.
The Independent, which is not a conservative outlet, acknowledged in a story published the same day as Patel’s testimony that the FBI had investigated Turning Point USA. The Independent used that information as part of a bigger story about Trump leveling accusations against his former campaign opponent.
Hageman in a Tuesday email to Cowboy State Daily added that during her tenure as former chair of the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee, “we held several hearings on cartel activity on reservations across the nation.”
Tribal leaders voiced “the fear and despair they feel in the face of cartel infiltration on their lands, threatening the lives of their members through drug addiction, human trafficking, and other criminal activity,” said Hageman.
“When I had the chance to question Merrick Garland on this topic,” she said, “he blamed Congress instead of taking accountability for the crisis that he and the Biden administration created through the open border. President Trump and Director Patel wasted no time addressing this problem head-on, sending nearly 100 FBI personnel to issue arrest warrants for dangerous criminals distributing drugs and possessing illegal firearms on the Wind River Reservation."
Hageman’s numbers appear to be accurate. Though the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s initial press conference on the large Wyoming enforcement operation referenced 90 agents, later talks with the spokeswoman and the later press release counted 100.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
