Congressman Henry Cuellar, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved a Certification of Authorization (COA) for an unmanned aerial vehicle to patrol a portion of the U.S. Mexico border extending from Arizona to the El Paso region of Texas effective Tuesday, June 1, 2010. This is one of two COAs that have been submitted to FAA to approve the flights of unmanned aerial vehicles along the Texas-Mexico border.

“This is the first of two steps in getting unmanned aircraft vehicles approved to patrol the entire Texas-Mexico border,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This is very good news for Texas, as we seek to provide additional security measures along the Rio Grande in light of escalated border violence. However, more needs to be done. I will continue to push for the second pending COA when I meet with the FAA Administrator next week on May 20th.”