PerspectiveHigh Tech at the Border Wall... and the Government Wants More

Published 8 October 2019

Border Patrol agents say one of the most helpful types of technology in the region is the network of underground sensors placed along the riverbank and nearby dirt trails. They detect movement and notify agents of activity, like migrants illegally scrambling across the border. “There’s a lot of focus on just the wall. The wall is just one aspect of a multi-layered approach that we utilize to secure our borders,” says George Gomez, a Border Patrol agent in the El Paso sector of the southern border the United States shares with Mexico. “If they’re able to actually scale the wall and come down on the U.S. side safely without injuring themselves, then they’re going to step on one of our sensors that are magnetic, seismic or infrared. And that alerts us to activity in that area,” he says.

Border Patrol agents say one of the most helpful types of technology in the region is the network of underground sensors placed along the riverbank and nearby dirt trails. They detect movement and notify agents of activity, like migrants illegally scrambling across the border.

“There’s a lot of focus on just the wall. The wall is just one aspect of a multi-layered approach that we utilize to secure our borders,” says George Gomez, a Border Patrol agent in the El Paso sector of the southern border the United States shares with Mexico.

“If they’re able to actually scale the wall and come down on the U.S. side safely without injuring themselves, then they’re going to step on one of our sensors that are magnetic, seismic or infrared. And that alerts us to activity in that area,” he says.

Camila Dechalus writes for the Pulitzer Center that even these sensors have blind spots, Border Patrol agents say. For example, they can’t detect the drones used by human traffickers to map out routes where migrants can cross.

She writes:

As Congress engages in its latest battle over Department of Homeland Security funding, mired by President Donald Trump’s demand to build his border wall, CBP and Border Patrol officials assert that technology is as pivotal a component to securing the border as any physical barrier.

But deploying new technology at the border has been challenging. Some advocacy groups cite privacy concerns about DHS using facial recognition programs. And adding technology has meant the Trump administration must first use eminent domain to seize private land along the border, prompting numerous legal battles with area homeowners.