Whistleblowers say Border Patrol surveillance cameras ‘don’t work’, GOP demands answers from DHS

For the past year, Fox News writers Bill Melguin and Griff Jenkins have been following up on complaints from Border Patrol sources that many of the critical remote surveillance cameras along the southern border have been out of action.

The US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Republicans said the culprits appeared before the committee last week, saying “some of the busiest areas of the Southwest border have nearly 50 or more cameras offline with many towers not working for more than a year.”

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Security sent a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Public Safety (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas, complaining that the wrongdoers came forward to the committee last week about details on the matter.

A letter from Republicans to Mayorkas demanded answers.

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Additionally, the committee says sources say the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for maintaining the cameras, and has improperly contracted companies that hire non-U.S. citizens against Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy “to potentially exploit equipment on camera towers.”

These surveillance cameras are very important for the Border Patrol to track migrants, smugglers, outlaws, and large groups, and having too many of them not working is a big problem for the 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 development system (RVSS-U) are not working. According to these sources, some sectors of the South-west border have about 50 or more. offline cameras with towers many of whom have worked for more than a year.”

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DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and migrants cross the border. (John Moore/Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

In a statement sent to Fox News, the Border Patrol union said:

“Once again, we have another case of incompetence by these administrations, and it continues to show how the leadership of DHS is out. This not only affects the country by not knowing who or what is going in, it also affects the safety of front-line agents,” said Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council.

NBC News report that the October memo said that about a third of the cameras, about 150 of the 500 cameras in the surveillance towers, were out due to technical problems.

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Texas National Guard troops guarded more than 1,000 migrants who had crossed the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, Texas, overnight from Mexico. (John Moore/Getty Images)

“The issue that affects the whole country has a great impact on it [Border Patrol] to work,” the memo said.

The RVSS is almost 15 years old and is used to monitor border areas without the need for regular ground patrols. Agents will rely on a variety of detection and surveillance, including AI-powered towers, as well as helicopters, K-9s, the border wall, and the agents themselves.

Agents have seen the usefulness of automatic watch towerswhich are more advanced and use AI to track migrants and help agents find them. CBP has issued more than 300 towers.

Officials say the RVSS is an old, expensive system that requires constant maintenance and dedicated staff to monitor the cameras. That’s in contrast to newer systems that use AI and provide alerts to agents in real time.

“CBP continues to introduce new, more advanced technology that it welcomes[s] artificial intelligence and machine learning to infiltrate outdated systems, reducing the need to have active agents [on] non-obstructive activities within the local command center.”

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However, a branch of the National Border Patrol Council in Laredo, Texas, recently highlighted the news and told the agents that it “shares the concern that inoperable camera towers along the border are a serious concern for Border Security and Safety.”

The report comes as border security remains a top issue ahead of the 2024 election. Both presidential candidates, former President Trump and Vice President Harris, have pledged to provide more money to the southern border and have been trying to show voters that they have the power to get it.

Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.