US-Mexico Border Agents Issue Warning Over Camera Outage

Border agents are urging top immigration officials to address growing concerns with surveillance along the southern border after reports said almost 30 percent of security cameras were inoperable.
The National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents Border Patrol employees, called on the cameras to be fixed, saying taxpayers had “made significant investments” in the technology deployed along the southern border.
This year’s election cycle has shined a spotlight on border security, and officials have raised the issue as the broken equipment threatens national security and the effectiveness of monitoring efforts in one of the country’s hot spots for human trafficking and drug smuggling.
“The nationwide issue is having significant impacts on [Border Patrol] operations,” according to an internal Border Patrol memo seen by NBC News.
The widespread outage affects about 150 of the 500 surveillance cameras installed on towers along the U.S.-Mexico border, the outlet reported.
According to the internal memo, the failure stems from “several technical problems.”
Officials told NBC News that outdated equipment and unresolved repair issues were the primary contributors to the malfunctioning cameras.
Hector Garza, the president of National Border Patrol Council Local 2455, said in a statement posted on Facebook that the union continued to “receive numerous officer safety and border security concerns from Border Patrol Agents regarding USBP Camera Towers that are inoperable along the US/Mexico border.”
The statement continued: “USBP HQ is aware that many camera towers along the border are inoperable and they are currently ‘working’ on fixing this issue.
“The National Border Patrol Council Local 2455 shares your concerns that inoperable camera towers along the border are causing serious officer safety and border security concerns.
“We hope this issue is resolved soon, as the problem has been ongoing for quite some time! The American Taxpayer has made significant investments in technology along the border, and they expect that this technology is operational.”
Two Customs and Border Protection officials told NBC News that some repairs were conducted this month but that more than 150 requests for camera fixes remained unresolved. They also indicated that certain areas were out of view for Border Patrol because of the malfunctioning cameras.
According to the internal memo, NBC News reported, the Federal Aviation Administration, which services the systems and repairs the cameras, has had internal problems meeting the needs of the Border Patrol.
Newsweek has contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FAA for comment.
On Sunday, the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Donald Trump for president at a campaign rally in the critical battleground state of Arizona.
Trump has pledged to hire 10,000 new agents, give a 10 percent raise to existing agents and offer $10,000 retention and signing bonuses.
Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to revive a bipartisan border security bill that Republican lawmakers killed earlier this year after being pressured by Trump.
The bipartisan bill would have allowed the president to deport migrants who entered the U.S. between official border crossing points and to deny them the ability to apply for asylum.
The bill also would have added 1,500 more CBP officers and 4,300 asylum officers to deal with the immigration backlog.
With three weeks until the election, Trump continues to poll better than Harris on immigration.
In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted in August, the former president led Harris by 51 points among adults who said immigration was “very important” to them—with 83 percent saying they planned to back Trump compared to 32 percent who said they would vote for Harris.