This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, offering a weekly exploration of pressing issues within the criminal justice system. Subscribe to receive future newsletters directly in your inbox: Sign up here.
In the coming weeks, Closing Argument will travel the Southwest to uncover stories related to immigration, ICE, juvenile justice, and bail reform.
As one journeys westward along the Texas-Mexico border into Big Bend Ranch State Park, the landscape shifts dramatically. You transition from a tranquil resort village of just around 100 residents to a highway that undulates like a roller coaster, flanked by towering rock formations that dissolve into a vast view of mesas and plateaus. At the park’s lowest elevation, an inconspicuous stream flows gently, almost making it hard to believe it is indeed the Rio Grande.
About 45 minutes later, the grandeur of the park gives way to gentle hills and sparse brush, eventually leading to the small town of Redford, Texas — and you may still feel uncertain about having left the park.
Here, the reality of the border becomes subtle yet poignant. A seemingly benign adopt-a-highway sign subtly references a largely forgotten chapter in national history, one that carries deep significance in the Big Bend area. The sign honors Esequiel Hernández Jr., an 18-year-old American citizen who was tragically shot by a U.S. Marine in 1997, following the Clinton administration’s decision to militarize the border.
A memorial highway sign in Redford, Texas, dedicated to Esequiel Hernández Jr., an 18-year-old U.S. citizen who lost his life due to a U.S. Marine in 1997.
A few miles further, an inconspicuous shiny pole arises from a hilltop, reaching about 30 feet into the air—easily overlooked if you’re unaware of its purpose. This is an autonomous surveillance tower, equipped with long-range video capabilities alongside thermal and infrared sensors. Such towers form part of what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refers to as a “smart wall”—an integration of physical barriers and advanced detection technologies. While many Americans recognize the steel bollard walls lining certain border areas, they actually account for only a small fraction of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border enforcement infrastructure.
Beyond these visible structures lies a complex system of technology that extends its reach thousands of miles away from this modest river. Beryl Lipton, a senior investigative researcher at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, emphasized that border enforcement transcends mere geography.
“Today’s technologies—high-definition cameras, microphones, digital data acquisition, and AI-driven analytics—cultivate an atmosphere of pervasive surveillance affecting nearly everyone in the U.S.,” said Lipton.
The technologies employed along the border range extensively, from conspicuous aerostats—massive balloon-like structures hovering thousands of feet above the desert—to discreet devices like unattended ground sensors detecting footsteps, and license plate scanners disguised as traffic cones. Many of these technologies are increasingly enhanced with various forms of artificial intelligence, yet DHS differentiates between systems developed for simple movement detection and those utilizing biometric data for identifying or tracking individuals.
According to DHS policy, detection technologies—like the multitude of autonomous towers now spread throughout the borderlands—do not constitute a “rights-impacting” use of AI, as these infrastructures are only intended for detection. However, civil liberties organizations like EFF argue that the towers can capture high-resolution images, which the government could potentially analyze later.
Furthermore, there are border technologies currently employing AI for real-time identification, and this tech is not confined to border areas. ICE agents are increasingly utilizing a facial recognition app and database known as Mobile Fortify, designed initially for Customs and Border Patrol officers to verify the identity and immigration status of individuals entering or exiting the U.S. Last spring, 404 Media first reported on this technology’s use at the border, based on leaked internal ICE communications.
A tethered aerostat in Ryan, Texas, utilized for surveillance along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Recently, The New York Times reported an unsettling incident where an ICE agent in Minneapolis recognized a U.S. citizen observing them, potentially using a facial recognition system—though DHS didn’t clarify which technology was utilized. This raises concerns about government agents accurately identifying individuals in this manner, especially since such technology is often prone to errors. WIRED further reported that DHS is employing it for identity verification tasks for which it was not designed.
Surveillance is not the sole method of border enforcement being imported into the interior of the country. The ongoing militarization of border regions, a trend over the past 50 years, now increasingly permeates ICE operations. In a recent piece for The New York Times, reporter and former U.S. Marine Thomas Gibbons-Neff described the advanced weaponry some agents now carry as “the tangible embodiment of decades of warfare, refined for close-quarters combat.” These high-powered rifles are equipped with suppressors, laser sights, and enhancements for rapid ammunition loading.
Despite some tools migrating inward, border areas still experience an intensity of enforcement that most of the country rarely feels. The Big Bend region now has active-duty military personnel present for the first time in 30 years. According to Brewster County Judge Greg Henington, any initial concerns from residents have not led to widespread frustration. County judges in Texas carry out many executive functions. “I can assure you people would be ringing my phone off the wall if that was an issue,” he noted.
Proposals for a border wall through Big Bend have long been deemed impractical due to the area’s challenging terrain. However, the Big Bend Sentinel recently reported that the federal government is seeking leases for wall construction that could threaten the region’s natural beauty and its recreational access to the river. With renowned dark skies, stargazers have expressed concerns for years regarding federal plans to inundate the area with additional “smart wall” technology, including intrusive stadium-style lighting.
Further west in Arizona, multiple environmental organizations and Native American tribes are raising alarms about the environmental consequences of constructing bollards, which pose threats to endangered wildcats, bears, and other wildlife, as well as disrupting water flow during heavy rainfall.
DHS has utilized waivers to expedite these projects, citing an “acute and immediate need” to bypass the environmental assessments and public transparency measures typically required for large infrastructure initiatives.
However, according to the administration’s own statistics, border crossings have reached a 50-year low. “Consequences deter illegal crossings; when individuals are aware they will be detained at our border instead of swiftly released and paroled, as occurred under Joe Biden, the results speak for themselves,” asserted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem during a recent press conference.
What remains ambiguous, however, is the real impact of bollards, towers, and aerial surveillance on border crossings. According to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, while infrastructure can be strategically beneficial by steering crossings toward areas with agent presence, the principal factors driving the decline in border crossings have been increased enforcement by Mexican authorities and the Trump administration’s deterrence campaign.
“From the outset,” Bush-Joseph remarked, “the government has been conveying a message of ‘don’t come, or you will be detained,’ and individuals worldwide are internalizing that message.”
