US Lawmaker Moves to Introduce Bill to Scrap Border Surveillance Tower Program

A bill is set to be introduced that would end the surveillance tower program along the US southern border. Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Delia Ramirez announced the plan on the 23rd (local time). The announcement came just days after the investigative report 'Dying on Camera' was published. The report analyzed deaths along the border from 2015 to early this year and found that roughly a quarter occurred within range of the surveillance towers. MIT Technology Review reported that approximately 1,100 people died within the coverage of the surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026.

The bill, set to be introduced, is named the 'Reimagining Safety Act.' It was developed with input from the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law and the Latino political organization Mijente. The bill is part of a larger proposal to replace the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with a 'Department of Community Safety' and transfer the functions of CISA, FEMA, TSA, and Customs to existing federal agencies.

Ramirez's vision goes a step further. "There is no question that the Department of Homeland Security must be dismantled. We need to provide a roadmap for how to do it," she said at a press conference in Chicago. She went on to explain the bill's purpose: "limiting national surveillance, curbing the illegal abuse of data, and deterring militarized enforcement, while beginning to build a separate civilian immigration system."

As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, Ramirez is pursuing the related bill. The full text of the bill has not yet been released.