Nearly 30% of security cameras that monitor the southern border are reportedly broken — and sources fear that could mean the number of migrant “gotaways” is “way more than reported.”
About 150 of the 500 cameras are out of commission due to “several technical problems,” NBC News reported, citing an internal Border Patrol memo.
“The nationwide issue is having significant impacts on [Border Patrol] operations,” said the memo, which was sent to agents along the border.
The feds have relied on the cameras — part of the Remote Video Surveillance Systems — since 2011 to monitor large areas, saving the need for hundreds of agents to do the same thing via vehicle. The broken cameras mean parts of the area are no longer visible to Border Patrol agents.
A Customs and Border Protection source told The Post that agents rely on the cameras to document the migrant “gotaways” they aren’t able to catch, saying the true number of those evading arrest “is way more than reported” because the cameras have gone dark.
More than 1.7 million “gotaways” have been recorded crossing illegally into the US under the Biden-Harris admin.
But “no one knows the true number,” said the source.
“We are missing a bunch of traffic we should be detecting. Who knows what’s getting by,” said another agency source.
Old equipment and unresolved repair issues are to blame for the camera outage, according to NBC.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also to blame because its tasked with repairing the surveillance systems, but has struggled to address the issue, per the memo. As a result, the agency is looking for a contractor that can instead make the repairs.
A Border Patrol union chapter in the border town of Laredo, Texas, recently recognized that the inoperable cameras have been “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 union said. “The American taxpayer has made significant investments in technology along the border, and they expect that this technology is operational.”
Some repairs have already been made, but 150 camera repair requests remain outstanding. Meanwhile, the CBP has installed roughly 300 new camera towers with improved capabilities.
“CBP continues to install newer, more advanced technology that embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace outdated systems, reducing the need to have agents working non-interdiction functions,” an agency spokesperson said.