• BORDER SECURITYProtecting Our Borders: Leveraging Technological Assets and Local Knowledge in Remote Communities

    By Thomas Deen and Ryan Andrew Brown

    Along its northern and southern borders—some areas of which are vast, often forbidding wilderness—the United States confronts threats from foreign adversaries, their proxies, and transnational criminal organizations. Fighting back requires more advanced technological tools combined with knowledge of the terrain from tribal populations or other communities around the borderlands.

  • BORDER WALLWhy Were Border Wall Materials Put Up for Auction? Here's What You Should Know.

    By Ayden Runnels

    Some Texas lawmakers including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the Biden administration over the auction of wall materials. But the sale was directed by Congress —and Texas has already bought some of it.

  • BORDER SECURITYU.S. Border Surveillance Towers Have Always Been Broken

    By Dave Maass

    A new bombshell scoop from NBC News revealed an internal U.S. Border Patrol memo claiming that 30 percent of camera towers that compose the agency’s “Remote Video Surveillance System” (RVSS) program are broken. Except, this isn’t a bombshell.

  • BORDER SECURITYBiden Administration Gives Up on Texas Border Suit, Ordered to Finish Wall

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    Texas has won another lawsuit against the Biden administration, this time one that requires it to finish building the border wall.  The ruling was issued May 29, with a 60-day window for appeal. Because the Biden administration didn’t appeal by July 29, the court’s order remains in full effect.

  • TECH COMPANIES & BORDER SECURITYHundreds of Tech Companies Want to Cash In on Homeland Security Funding. Here's Who They Are and What They're Selling.

    By Dave Maass

    Whenever concerns grow about the security along the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the U.S. government generate dollars — hundreds of millions of dollars — for tech conglomerates and start-ups. Who are the vendors who supply or market the technology for the U.S. government’s increasingly AI-powered homeland security efforts, including the so-called “virtual wall” of surveillance along the southern border with Mexico?

  • BORDER SECURITYEvidence Mounts Islamic State Is Looking to the U.S. Southern Border

    By Jeff Seldin

    U.S. intelligence and security officials are increasing their focus on the country’s southern border, worried the constant flow of migrants has attracted the attention of the Islamic State terror group. The heightened concern follows the arrests earlier this month of eight men from Tajikistan, all of whom entered the United States via its southern border with Mexico, some making the trip over a year ago.

  • BORDER SECURITYFact Check: Coast Guard Continues to Interdict, Repatriate Illegal Entry at Sea

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    Coast Guard continues to interdict, repatriate illegal entry at sea. Critics claimed that the Coast Gard has been instructed to adopt a hands-off policy toward illegal migrants from Haiti.

  • BORDER SECURITYLack of Operational Control at Northern Border Poses National Security Threats

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    The northern border largely has been unmanned and understaffed for decades as federal reports issue conflicting conclusions about how much, or how little, operational control exists. All this while a greatest number of terrorist watch list individuals being apprehended at northern border.

  • BORDER SECURITYTexas Must Remove Floating Barrier from Rio Grande, Fifth Circuit Court Orders

    By Kevin Vu

    The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Texas on Friday to remove the floating barrier it deployed in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass this summer, affirming a lower court’s ruling. The appeals court upheld an earlier ruling by an Austin federal judge to remove the 1,000-foot-long barrier the state deployed near Eagle Pass.

  • PORT-OF-ENTRY SECURITYSecuring Ports of Entry, One Scan (or Thousands) at a Time

    Every year, millions of cargo containers make their way to U.S. ports of entry via maritime, roadways, and railways. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), more than 100,000 commercial cargo trucks cross U.S. POEs daily. To combat the threat of human and drug trafficking, it is imperative that their methods for cargo screening and physical examination are as thorough as they are efficient.

  • BORDER SECURITYDOJ Argues in Federal Court for Removal of Texas’ Floating Border Barrier

    By Sneha Dey

    In a court hearing over the barrier near Eagle Pass, the U.S. Justice Department argued it was installed without federal authorization, while lawyers for the state said it notified the proper authorities.

  • BORDER SECURITYBody Found Stuck in Buoys Texas Installed in the Rio Grande

    By Uriel J. Garcia and William Melhado

    Texas authorities believe the person drowned upstream and floated into the buoys near Eagle Pass. Mexico criticized Texas’ placement of the buoys along the river.

  • BORDER SECURITYDOJ Files Complaint Against Texas Over Placing Floating Buoy Barrier in the Rio Grande

    The Justice Department on Monday filed a civil complaint against the State of Texas because the state has built a floating barrier, consisting of buoys strung together, in the Rio Grande River without the federal authorization that is legally required under the Rivers and Harbors Act. 

  • LABOR TRAFFICKINGLabor Trafficking in the United States

    In 2020, DHS developed a strategy to guide its efforts to curb trafficking worldwide. Principally, the strategy calls for improving the identification and reporting of suspected trafficking. Questions about the current state of research on U.S. labor trafficking and future research needs need to be answered as the initial step in building a research agenda focused on labor trafficking.

  • SURVEILLANCEMapping CBP’s Expansion of Its Surveillance Tower Program at the U.S.-Mexico Border

    By David Maas

    EFF is releasing a new map and dataset of more than 290 surveillance towers installed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the border with Mexico. The tower systems are able to automatically detect and track objects  up to 7.5 miles away and assist agents in classifying objects 3 miles away.