The Download: investigating deaths at the US border’s “virtual wall”

A study by MIT Technology Review found that, despite billions of dollars invested in border‑watch towers outfitted with cameras and artificial‑intelligence algorithms along the U.S. southern frontier, these systems are not preventing on‑the‑ground deaths. The case of José Morales Bernal, who died just 110 meters from one of those towers in April 2024, illustrates the failure: neither the automatic detection nor the agents’ response were triggered, and it was a garbage‑yard worker who discovered him. By cross‑referencing a database of nearly 4,000 sites where human remains were found with the locations of about 600 towers, researchers identified hundreds of similar incidents, many of which occurred within the devices’ line of sight. The report also highlights structural problems such as damaged towers, algorithms that fail to recognize people, and staff who do not act on alerts. In addition, the government plans to allocate another $1 billion to expand the “virtual wall” despite these shortcomings.

This news is significant because it shows that high‑cost border‑surveillance technology is not fulfilling its mission to protect lives, raising serious questions about the effectiveness of future investments and the need to review operational protocols.

Read the original article on MIT Technology Review

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