Roundtable: The Deadly Failures of the Virtual Border Wall

MIT Technology Review has published a subscriber-only roundtable on the failures of the surveillance technology behind the US "virtual border wall", following its investigation into deaths along the US-Mexico border.

The conversation features editor in chief Mat Honan, senior AI reporter James O'Donnell and investigations reporter Eileen Guo, and accompanies the project "Dying on Camera", a collaboration with Times of San Diego.

Why the towers are under scrutiny

The investigation examined the network of surveillance towers built along the southern border over 25 years, a system that also includes blimps, drones, seismic sensors and tunnel-sensing robots. Customs and Border Protection has credited it with saving lives.

Reporters cross-referenced nearly 4,000 locations where human remains were found with data on nearly 600 towers catalogued by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, using installation dates and estimated times of death.

They found that more than 1,050 people died within range of the towers between 2015 and early 2026, inside the advertised range of nearly two-thirds of the towers studied. A topographical analysis found some towers see as little as 10% of the area they advertise, yet most deaths did not occur in their blind spots.

New systems, same pattern

More than 110 people have died since 2021 within range of modern autonomous towers built by Anduril. The company says the towers are operated by CBP once delivered, that an incident nearby does not necessarily mean a detection was missed, and that ranges vary with terrain, obstructions and agency-set boundaries.

The reporting describes Jose Morales Bernal, who crossed into southern New Mexico on 8 April 2024, the day before his 32nd birthday, within range of three Anduril towers. He died 360 feet from the closest one and was found by landfill workers, not Border Patrol; an autopsy attributed his death to "environmental exposure". Eighteen other people died that year in the same stretch of desert.

A budget that keeps growing

In 2023 the government estimated its plans for the towers, now numbering 803, would cost $6.2 billion over their service life. With funding awarded in 2025, CBP intends to spend $1 billion on 1,497 more towers by 2034.

Interviews with more than 45 people pointed to two kinds of failure: technology that does not detect, and agents who do not respond to alerts. CBP assistant commissioner Beckham said the technology does not make law enforcement decisions.