FAA Limits Drones Over DHS Assets, Igniting Civil Liberties Concerns

News media coalition calls restriction the ‘most sweeping prohibition’ on UAS activity in U.S. history.

Jack Daleo

Friday, January 30, 2026 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Temporary flight restriction (TFR) prohibits drones from flying within 1,000 feet vertically and 3,000 feet laterally of Department of Homeland Security ‘mobile assets.’ [Credit: iStock]

Key Takeaways:

A new FAA temporary flight restriction (TFR) broadly prohibits drone operations near Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "mobile assets," drawing strong criticism from news organizations, advocacy groups like the ACLU, and former FAA officials.
Critics argue the TFR is unconstitutionally vague, creates impossible-to-know "roving, invisible" no-fly zones, and severely impedes newsgathering and public oversight of DHS activities such as ICE raids.
The expansive and ambiguous nature of this TFR is expected to impact compliant commercial and public safety drone operations across the U.S., with its legality and potential for selective enforcement likely to face challenges in court.

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News organizations, advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and even former FAA officials are sounding the alarm on what could be the “most sweeping prohibition on UAS [uncrewed aircraft system] activity across the United States ever imposed.”

That is how the News Media Coalition—which includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Getty Images, National Press Photographers Association, and publishers of major newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post—described an FAA temporary flight restriction (TFR) that penalizes the operation of drones, including those used for newsgathering, near Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “mobile assets.”