DHS Warns of Dangerous Spike in Illegal Signal Jammers

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued an urgent warning: Chinese-made signal jammers are pouring into the United States at alarming rates—and criminals are already putting them to use.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), seizures of the devices have skyrocketed 830% since 2021, with officials blaming Chinese manufacturers for deliberately trying to sneak them past inspections.

Signal jammers may sound like spy-movie gadgets, but in reality they can block police radios, scramble GPS, and even interfere with civilian aviation signals. DHS says that makes them more than a nuisance… they’re a national security threat.

“These are tools of terrorism,” a DHS spokesperson said. “We’ve seen illegal aliens use them during police operations, bank robberies, burglaries—serious crimes where every second of communication matters.”

The problem is spreading. States already affected include Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. In one case this February, Texas police seized a jammer from an alleged Chilean national during an arrest. Last December, a burglary suspect used a jammer to block police communications mid-crime.
Federal law strictly bans the import, sale, or operation of signal jammers, yet the black-market pipeline keeps growing. The irony? China prohibits civilians from using jammers at home, even as its firms ship them abroad.

“National security begins at America’s ports,” the DHS spokesperson said. “We will continue to seize these devices before they can be used to endanger lives.”

Combat the threat of illegal cellular jammers with Forest Security’s Jam-Alert.