Drone Pilot Makes US Rescind No-Fly Zones Around Unmarked, Moving ICE Vehicles
"Fnord666" writes:
Civil liberty concerns spur FAA to revise drone no-fly zones near ICE vehicles:
In January 2026, during the height of protests against immigration raids in Minneapolis, federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good . Before even gathering all the facts , the Department of Homeland Security labeled the mother of three an "anti-ICE rioter" who "weaponized her vehicle against law enforcement" in an "act of domestic terrorism."
Days later, the feds announced a major expansion of "no-fly zones" in the name of national security. While such no-fly zones used to be about controlling aircraft, they now often focus on small drones. The expanded no-fly zones announced on January 16 prohibited such drones from flying within 3,000 lateral feet and 1,000 vertical feet of federal facilities.
But for the first time, the order extended no-fly zones to ground vehicles belonging to the Department of Homeland Security. Even while the vehicles were in motion. Even if they were unmarked. And even if their routes had not been announced.
This exceptionally ambiguous policy posed real danger to people like Rob Levine , a freelance photojournalist and commercial photographer in Minneapolis for nearly four decades. Since Levine got his remote-pilot certification and bought his first drone in 2016, he has flown a small fleet of DJI quadcopter drones to take aerial photographs and videos of Minnesota's rivers, bridges, and cities, along with crowds gathered for outdoor concerts and parades. More recently, he has documented Twin City residents protesting the increased presence of federal agents in their community.
Levine immediately stopped flying when he saw the no-fly notice. The notice said government agencies could shoot down or seize drones "deemed to pose a credible safety or security threat," and it warned of civil and even criminal penalties for drone operators.
"I saw what these federal agents were willing to do, the violence they were willing to visit upon even constitutional observers here in the Twin Cities who were just photographing what they were doing," Levine told Ars.
Good's killing had occurred just six blocks from his home. "It didn't take much imagination to think what they would do to somebody with a drone, and so for weeks I didn't go fly," he said.
A week after the no-fly zone warning, the situation in Minneapolis escalated further when Customs and Border Protection officers killed Alex Pretti , a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, after wrestling him to the ground and shooting him multiple times.
Levine wanted his drones back in the air. But when he sought guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency candidly acknowledged that the no-fly zone warning was "ambiguous" and "therefore, any flight carries the risk of inadvertent violation."
Could such a policy possibly be legal?
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