U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they could eventually start patrolling the skies over Southern California with drone aircrafts, which are unmanned and unarmed, to detect drug traffickers, illegal immigrants and smugglers on the ground and in the water.

The drones will initially be used off the coast of Florida mostly to track down drug traffickers, said Juan Munoz-Torres, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. He said the drones can last a lot longer than some of the other aircraft they have right now patrolling the waters for drug traffickers.

The United States Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine's unmanned aircraft, the Predator B, sits on display at Fort Drum, N.Y., Thursday, June 18, 2009.HEATHER AINSWORTH, ASSOCIATED PRESS

"While the aircraft we currently have can last only 12 or 13 hours, these drones can last upto 22 hours," he said.

The drones will first be deployed in Florida and Gulf Coast early next year. They could also be used in the Eastern Pacific region along the coast of Central America and Baja California by the summer of 2010.

"Eventually, we want to use the drones in Southern California to detect drug traffickers and illegal immigrants coming through the border," Munoz-Torres said. That will, however, depend on the department's priorities and budget, he said.

The priority now is Florida because that is where the drug trafficking problem is at its worst, he said.

"What you're seeing in Southern California is only a part of the problem," Munoz-Torres said.

Federal officials on Monday unveiled the planes, called Maritime MQ-9 Predator B Guardian Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which will use radar and long-range video cameras to spot drug traffickers, smugglers or immigrants who attempt to illegally cross the nation's borders.

The spokeswoman for a pro-immigrant rights group said the drones are just another way to militarize the border.

"Immigration doesn't need high technology or military enforcement," said Anike Tourse of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "What is really needed is immigration reform that will work toward keeping families safe and together."

Enforcement without reform hasn't worked in the past and it's not going to work now, Tourse said.

Britt Craig, a member of the Minuteman group that patrols the border and reports illegal immigrants, said he believes the drones could be effective.

"The border crossers use certain areas, trails basically," said Craig, a Mission Viejo resident who is stationed in Campo. "The drone in the right weather can be a fairly effective surveillance tool."

The Border Patrol uses quite a bit of surveillance, but the crowds of border crossers have somewhat thinned this year compared to last year, Craig said.

"I don't believe the drones will be a deterrent, but they will help Border Patrol better detect groups of people trying to cross the border illegally," he said.

The aircraft are remotely controlled by a two-person team on the ground. One person handles the drone and another handles the sensors camera and radar, officials said.