Posted on October 23, 2024

Whistleblowers Claim Border Patrol Surveillance Cameras ‘Out of Service’ as GOP Demands Answers From DHS

Stepheny Price and Bill Melugin, Fox News, October 16, 2024

Over the last year, Fox News correspondents Bill Melguin and Griff Jenkins have been following complaints from Border Patrol sources that many of the crucial remote surveillance cameras in multiple sectors along the southern border have not been operational.

U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Republicans say whistleblowers came forward to the committee last week, claiming that “some of the busiest Southwest border sectors have nearly 50 or more cameras offline with multiple towers that have been out of service for more than a year.”

On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, claiming that whistleblowers came forward to the committee last week with concerning information on this issue.

{snip}

Additionally, the committee says the sources claim that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for repairing the cameras, and it has been improperly contracting to companies employing non-US citizens against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy “who may be physically manipulating the equipment on the camera towers.”

These surveillance cameras are extremely important to Border Patrol for tracking migrant evaders, smugglers, gotaways, and large groups, and having so many of them not working is a big problem for Border Patrol, committee sources said.

“Multiple sources revealed to the Committee last week that more than 66% of the cameras in the remote video surveillance systems upgrade (RVSS-U) program are inoperable. According to these sources, some of the busiest Southwest border sectors have nearly 50 or more cameras offline with multiple towers that have been out of service for more than a year.”

{snip}

NBC News reported that an October memo said nearly one-third of cameras, roughly 150 of 500 cameras on surveillance towers, were out due to technical issues.

“The nationwide issue is having significant impacts on [Border Patrol] operations,” the memo said.

{snip}