Border Surveillance Towers Fail to Prevent Migrant Deaths Despite $6.2B Investment

On April 8, 2024, José Morales Bernal crossed the US-Mexico border, only to be found dead 360 feet from the nearest surveillance tower. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operates 803 surveillance towers, with an estimated total cost of $6.2 billion over their lifespan. Despite this investment, 66% of first-generation towers were reported as unusable in 2024, and 30% of the Remote Video Surveillance System (RVSS) towers remained broken as of January 2026.

The CBP plans to add 1,497 additional towers by 2034, with a budget of $1 billion allocated for this expansion. However, the effectiveness of these towers has come under scrutiny. Delia Ramirez, a Democrat representative from Illinois, stated, "AI-powered surveillance technologies are not making us safer."

Since 2015, an estimated 1,050 people have died within the range of these surveillance towers, with 110 deaths occurring since 2021. In the same stretch of desert where Morales died, 18 other fatalities were recorded in 2024 alone. Nonprofit organizations such as No More Deaths and Humane Borders are actively collecting data on human remains found at the border, cross-referencing 4,000 locations.

Geoff Boyce, an assistant professor of geography at University College Dublin, noted that while surveillance technologies may provide some intelligence, they do not deliver the operational support or efficacy claimed by CBP and the Department of Homeland Security. This follows previous concerns raised about the capabilities of the RVSS program, which has an estimated total cost of $3.7 billion.

The ongoing challenges highlight a critical gap in the effectiveness of border surveillance technology, raising questions about the allocation of resources in addressing migrant safety along the 1,951-mile southern border.