Mexico-US Border: A Tale of Two States

After the ‘build the wall’ years of the Trump administration, the US is now coming to terms with the fact that it’s not only people but also goods and services that want to cross the Mexico-US border: as these two examples from Texas and Arizona demonstrate.

In Texas, the government is guarding the potential border crossing routes with solar-powered ‘autonomous surveillance towers’ that use thermal imaging, cameras and radar to feed an artificial intelligence system that can determine whether a moving object is an animal, vehicle or person, and beam its location coordinates to US Border Patrol agents.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has deployed about 175 of the towers along the southern border so far, part of a five-year deal with Anduril, a California-based security and defence contractor specialising in artificial intelligence systems. CBP officials say the Anduril system is the most advanced surveillance technology they have ever placed along the border, calling it a ‘force multiplier’ that allows the agency to detect and intercept more illegal entries without increased staffing.