Too Many Blindspots: Border Patrol Cameras Down

So, it turns out almost a third of the cameras keeping an eye on the southern border are out of commission.

Yeah, 150 of 500 cameras are offline, making it harder to monitor areas for potential “gotaways.”

The feds have been relying on these cameras since 2011 to cover huge stretches without needing agents on the ground.

If only people were forced to give the government money, then maybe they could afford proper cameras.

Now, with big chunks of the border basically invisible, agents are left guessing how many people are slipping through.

Gives you a real secure feeling, right?

Memo reveals 30% of border patrol surveillance cameras are broken.

Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/tm8BlDzQDP

— AF Post (@AFpost) October 15, 2024

New York Post reports:

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.

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NEW: For the last year, me & colleague @GriffJenkins have heard complaints from Border Patrol contacts that many of the crucial remote surveillance cameras in multiple sectors along the southern border haven’t been operating.

Now, @HomelandGOP says whistleblowers came forward… pic.twitter.com/Terxfy9XPj

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 16, 2024