About a third of the cameras Border Patrol service According to an internal agency dispatch in early October, the primary surveillance system along the US southern border is malfunctioning, depriving border agents of an important tool in the fight. illegal migrant crossings.
“The nationwide problem has a significant impact [Border Patrol] operations,” reads a Border Patrol memo sent to agents along the southern border and obtained by NBC News.
The large-scale outage affects about 150 of the 500 cameras installed on surveillance towers along the US-Mexico border. According to reports, this was caused by “several technical issues”. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, blamed outdated equipment and lack of maintenance.
The camera systems, known as Remote Video Surveillance Systems, have been used since 2011 to “survey large areas without employing hundreds of agents in vehicles to perform the same function.” But according to the internal memory, 30% was not working. It is unclear when the cameras stopped working.
Two Customs and Border Protection officials said some repairs have been made this month, but there are still more than 150 pending requests to repair the cameras. Officials said there are some areas that are not visible to the Border Patrol because the cameras are broken.
A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection said the agency is installing about 300 new towers that use more advanced technology.
“CBP continues to install newer, more advanced technology that includes artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace outdated systems, reducing the need for agents to perform non-prohibited functions,” he said.
The Border Patrol unit in Laredo, Texas noted the issue on Facebook last week. He told members he “shares your concerns that inoperable camera towers along the border pose serious officer safety and border security concerns.”
“Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon as it has been going on for a long time!” the union added in a post on Friday. “The American taxpayer has made significant investments in technology across the border, and they expect that technology to work.”
An internal Border Patrol memo obtained by NBC News blames a different federal agency — the Federal Aviation Administration — for the problem. The FAA, which maintains the systems and repairs the cameras, has internal problems meeting the needs of the Border Patrol, it notes without explaining what those problems are.
The FAA will send personnel to the southern border to work on the cameras, the memo said.
Border Patrol officials are considering replacing the FAA with a contractor that can provide “adequate technical support for the cameras.”
A third Customs and Border Patrol official said the agency is trying to address a significant problem that has been mismanaged for the past 20 years.
An FAA spokesman declined to comment.
The Department of Homeland Security’s budget request to Congress through the White House asked for more money to routinely restore surveillance systems along the border.
House Republicans blocked a bipartisan bill this year that would have significantly upgraded surveillance systems, hired additional Border Patrol agents and resumed construction of a border wall.