Media

Texas DPS Takes Fox’s Bill Melugin For Helicopter Ride To Cover Border Crisis After Biden Admin Temporarily Banned Their Drone

[Fox News Screenshot]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

After the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily banned Fox News from using a drone to capture the border crisis, Texas troopers reportedly helped Fox continue their coverage.

Filming live above the international bridge in Del Rio, Fox’s Bill Melugin said troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) were “kind enough to let us go up in their helicopter with them and get a look at the situation at this bridge right now.”

Video footage shows migrants, who Melugin says are mostly Haitian, huddled under the bridge due to a strain on border patrol resources. Dozens of migrants are then captured crossing the Del Rio River into Texas illegally. Melugin said after the migrants cross the river they use a dirt path to get to the area under the bridge.

Melugin described the scene as a “non-stop trail of migrants” and a “large refugee camp.” Border patrol agents allegedly told Melugin the situation was “out of control” and that they need immediate help.

The FAA confirmed just minutes before Melugin went live that they granted Fox News clearance to “operate from now until the end of September in the restricted airspace.”

The FAA issued a two-week temporary flight restriction Thursday over the area citing “special security reasons” after Fox News released footage capturing thousands of migrants flowing over the border in Del Rio.

The agency then issued an update noting the media could request an exemption to operate in the area, which Fox News did Friday morning, according to the FAA. (RELATED: ‘I Think This Is Illegal’: Sen. Kennedy Says Fox News’ Drones Grounded To Hide ‘Lunacy’ Of ‘Open Border’)

In a statement to the Daily Caller, the FAA said border patrol requested the flight restriction for drones because it allegedly was interfering with law enforcement aircraft on the border.

Amidst the situation at the border, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that six points of entry would close.

“The sheer negligence of the Biden Administration to do their job and secure the border is appalling,” Abbott said in a statement.

Abbott later reversed his decision, blaming the Biden administration for having “flip-flopped to a different strategy that abandons border security and instead makes it easier for people to cross illegally and for cartels to exploit the border.”

“I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to maintain their presence at and around ports of entry to deter crossings.”

The Daily Caller has reached out to the Texas DPS but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel