Border agents are calling on top immigration officials to address growing concerns about surveillance along the southern border after reports say nearly 30 percent of security cameras are not working.
The National Border Guard Council, the union representing Border Guard workers, called for the cameras to be fixed, saying taxpayers have “made significant investments” in the technology being deployed along the southern border.
This year’s election cycle has shone a spotlight on border security, with officials raising the issue as broken equipment threatens national security and the effectiveness of monitoring efforts in one of the nation’s hot spots for human trafficking and drug smuggling.
“This nationwide issue has a significant impact on the Border Patrol’s operations,” according to an internal Border Patrol memo obtained by NBC News.
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According to the website, the widespread outage affects about 150 of the 500 surveillance cameras installed on towers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to an internal memo, the outage is due to “several technical issues.”
Officials told NBC News that the main causes of camera malfunctions are outdated equipment and unresolved repair issues.
Hector Garza, president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2455, said in a statement posted on Facebook that the union continues to “receive numerous concerns from Border Patrol agents regarding officer safety and border security regarding USBP camera towers that are not operational along the territory US/Mexico border.”
The statement continued: “The USBP Command is aware that many camera masts along the border are unusable and is currently “working” to resolve this issue.
“The National Border Guard Council, Local 2455, shares your concerns that failing camera masts along the border are causing serious concerns about officer safety and border security.
“We hope this issue will be resolved soon as the problem has been going on for a long time! The American taxpayer has made significant investments in technology along the border and expects this technology to work.”
Two Customs and Border Protection officials told NBC News that some repairs were made this month, but more than 150 camera repair requests remained unresolved. They also pointed out that some areas were out of sight of the Border Guard due to faulty cameras.
According to an internal memo, NBC News reports, the Federal Aviation Administration, which services systems and repairs cameras, is having internal problems meeting the needs of the Border Patrol.
Newsweek has contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FAA for comment.
On Sunday, the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Donald Trump as president during a campaign rally in the critical battleground state of Arizona.
Trump pledged to hire 10,000 new agents, provide a 10 percent raise to current agents and offer $10,000 in retention and signing bonuses.
Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to revive the bipartisan border security bill that Republican lawmakers killed earlier this year under pressure from Trump.
The bipartisan bill would allow the president to deport migrants who enter the U.S. between official border crossings and deny them the opportunity to seek asylum.
The bill would also add 1,500 additional CBP officers and 4,300 asylum officers to deal with immigration backlogs.
With three weeks until the election, Trump continues to do better than Harris in polls on immigration.
In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted in August, the former president led Harris by 51 points among adults who said immigration was “very important” to them – 83% said they planned to support Trump compared to 32% who said they would vote on Trump. Harris.
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