The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to equip more than 200 surveillance towers with artificial intelligence and camera algorithms along the wall that separates Mexico from the United States. This marks a new phase in the extensive and costly technological surveillance of the southern border of the country.
The era of green-striped “Border Patrol” vehicles methodically patrolling the border between the United States and Mexico seems to have evolved, or almost. For decades, this border has been subject to reinforced control by authorities to combat illegal crossings, migration, and drug trafficking. To complement these measures, several deployments of the National Guard have been carried out. The first large-scale modern deployment dates back to 2006 with Operation Jump Start launched by George W. Bush to assist the Border Patrol.
Other waves followed, such as sending 1,200 guards in 2010-2011 under the Obama administration. From 2010 to 2020, missions have been strengthened, with up to 4,000 federal troops mobilized in 2018 for Operation Guardian Support. Meanwhile, Texas has maintained an almost continuous presence of its National Guard at the border through various operations since 2014, constituting one of the longest domestic deployments in American history.
But technology is now entering the heart of border operations. The Department of Homeland Security plans this year to equip 148 of its surveillance towers with artificial intelligence and automate them, while adding 50 new state-of-the-art towers. GDIT, a company providing technological solutions and mission services to leading U.S. government, defense, and intelligence agencies, has presented its proposal for this contract: an autonomous and relocatable surveillance tower.
Already a provider of 200 towers in Texas, GDIT is investing its own funds to integrate the latest technological advances and outpace its competitors, Anduril and Elbit. The new towers have enhanced sensors (long-range cameras, electro-optics, radar, and LIDAR) and operate on solar energy. Their computing power allows image recognition on-site, avoiding the transmission of high-definition video streams to operators and enabling the use of satellite communication rather than low-bandwidth microwave links.
A “virtual wall,” very real
Biometric and algorithmic surveillance at the border is not new in the United States and has often faced legal challenges. However, after these legal disputes, digital border surveillance has never been as advanced. Specialists emphasize the importance of automated systems capable of alerting overwhelmed agents in case of intrusion, giving rise to what government officials call a “virtual wall.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an NGO protecting Internet freedoms, has identified over 465 surveillance towers along this border and is working on creating a reference guide on the types of surveillance used by law enforcement. In 2022, the Customs and Border Protection service highlighted that the introduction of new autonomous solutions and the improvement of existing systems could reduce the number of agents needed for this surveillance.
Moreover, since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, American immigration policy has hardened. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBA) allocates a record $165 billion in funding to the Department of Homeland Security over the next four years, which oversees immigration agencies. This exceptional budget directly benefits defense and surveillance technology industries, ready to take advantage of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policy.
Enacted on July 4, 2025, the law dedicates over $6 billion to border technologies, particularly surveillance, according to The Guardian. Among the beneficiaries are private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic, as well as surveillance companies like Palantir and Anduril. A report from the immigrant legal defense organization Just Futures Law highlights that American immigration agencies are also seeking to fund biometric data collection, license plate readers, and even phone tapping.
In addition to the now reinforced watchtowers with artificial intelligence, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been deploying a fleet of drones since 2006 to monitor the border with Mexico. Among them are MQ-9 Reaper drones, as well as Hermes 450 and other autonomous drones, allowing near-permanent coverage along the over 3,200 kilometers of border. One of these drones recently made headlines when the U.S. military accidentally shot it down with a laser while it was flying over the border area in southwest Texas, according to several U.S. media outlets.
A “liberty-killing” and ineffective technology?
Several studies, however, show that surveillance towers alone do not necessarily increase the number of border apprehensions, as desired by the Trump administration. A study published in 2020 by the consulting firm Rand Corporation found that their deployment in certain areas could even complicate agents’ work, with migrants carefully avoiding camera-equipped zones.
Another research published in 2025 in the journal Political Geography highlights that these towers often push people to take more dangerous routes, which can double their water losses in desert regions. According to the specialized media Defense One, while the impact of AI-equipped towers remains poorly studied, these devices could nevertheless allow for monitoring ever larger portions of the border with fewer human resources: leaving policymakers to decide on the use of this new data.
For civil liberties advocates as well, this technological expansion raises serious concerns. The Electronic Frontier Foundation denounces a “digital disaster” for human rights. And the organization warns of the snowball effect of such measures. This infrastructure is not limited to U.S. federal agencies: it is also used by local and state law enforcement agencies, as well as certain Mexican authorities, gradually extending this surveillance network all over the region.
In 2022, 686 people died or are still missing after trying to cross the border between the United States and Mexico. A figure, to recall, probably underestimated, according to the International Organization for Migration, due to the lack of reliable data from official sources.
