State Attorneys General Seek Expanded Authority to Disable Prison Contraband Drones

More than 20 state attorneys general, led by Georgia AG Chris Carr, have sent a Friday letter to President Trump’s White House Task Force to Restore American Airspace Sovereignty asking for "carefully defined" authority for states to detect, monitor and actively mitigate unauthorized drones over prisons. Carr tells Fox News Digital that drones are routinely used to drop drugs, cellphones, weapons, razors and knives "behind the wire," and says Georgia’s Department of Corrections recorded about 500 drone-related incidents in 2025—averaging roughly 58 per month—and seized nearly 1,200 cellphones tied to such flights. Under current law, U.S. airspace is federally controlled, leaving state and local officials unclear on what counter‑drone actions they can legally take, even when they detect an active smuggling run into a facility. Congress has begun to carve out limited counter‑drone authority for trained state and local agencies near prisons and critical infrastructure through the National Defense Authorization Act, but the AGs argue those measures are too narrow and hamstrung by legal uncertainty. Their push reflects a broader, fast‑escalating fight over who can bring down or jam drones inside U.S. borders as criminals and cartels increasingly use cheap quadcopters to beat prison walls and security systems.