CBP informed congressional staff today that the drone “was preparing to provide live video to aid in situational awareness at the request of our federal law enforcement partners in Minneapolis.” https://twitter.com/jason_paladino/status/1266399916978507779

“After arriving into the Minneapolis airspace, the requesting agency determined that the aircraft was no longer needed for operational awareness and departed back to Grand Forks.”

CBP also added that CBP’s Air and Marine Operations unit, which runs the drone, “routinely” helps federal, state, and local law enforcement and also assists with humanitarian efforts.

The presence of the aircraft was first reported by @jason_paladino and @VICE.

Two concerning points about this whole deal. 1. Civil liberties implications of largely unregulated mass drone surveillance of protests. 2. The opaqueness of the relationships between state, federal, local, and private tech companies wrt surveillance infrastructure.