U.S. Border Patrol deploys Autonomous Surveillance Towers for West Texas and New Mexico

The U.S. Border Patrol has deployed two Autonomous Surveillance Towers in the Santa Teresa Station area of responsibility this past week, with plans to deploy 13 more across the El Paso Sector.

Autonomous Surveillance Towers or ASTs are a cost-effective approach that provides surveillance and detection capabilities along with numerous other benefits. These towers are mobile and can be rapidly deployed and relocated with minimal impact to the environment. In addition, they are powered 100 percent by solar energy.

ASTs are one of the many technological tools that the El Paso Sector is leveraging to strengthen the integrity of our border. The record number of migrants attempting to cross our border illegally poses a challenge to securing our nation’s borders. This type of autonomous surveillance technology allows agents to effectively identify and locate migrants entering illegally into the United States. Because of its accuracy with detection, in many cases this type of technology can and will save migrant lives in our West Texas and New Mexico region.

The El Paso Sector is collaborating with area stakeholders to identify and secure the optimum locations to deploy the remaining AST towers.

“Autonomous Surveillance Towers are just one piece of the of the overall effort to identify and classify who and what is entering the United States illegally between the Ports of Entry,” said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez. “El Paso Sector is one of the sectors along the Southwest border benefiting from autonomous technology increasing our Border Patrol agents’ capabilities to more effectively secure our borders—these ASTs are a step in the right direction toward that purpose.”