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U.S. town opposes "Big
Brother" Mexico border fence
Tim Gaynor
Reuters
Wednesday May 16, 2007
A pilot project to place a high-tech network of surveillance
towers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border has met boisterous
opposition in this Arizona town, where some residents call it "Big
Brother."
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is installing a network
of nine towers with ground radar and night vision cameras to monitor
a 28-mile (45-km) stretch of border near Arivaca, southwest of Tucson.
It is the first trial for the communications and technology arm
of the government's Secure Border Initiative announced in 2005.
Dubbed "SBInet," authorities say it will be extended across
some 6,000 miles of the Mexican and Canadian borders in segments
in coming years.
Residents of this remote, high desert ranching town of 1,500 people
have packed four public meetings in recent weeks to oppose the project,
which is due to go live at the end of next month.
"It's like Big Brother. It will place the whole town under
surveillance," community activist C Hues told Reuters as residents
gathered for a meeting late on Tuesday with CBP and Border Patrol
representatives.
"The government will be able to watch and record every movement
we make, 24 hours a day. It will be like living in a prison yard,"
she added.
Residents of the community are particularly concerned about one
98-foot-(30-meter-)tall tower topped with cameras and radar that
will be placed just south of the town, which lies about 12 miles
from the border.
"Why are they doing it here and not at the border? It's horrifying,
it makes no sense," said Melissa Murray, a gallery owner from
nearby Tubac.
EYES ON THE BORDER
Last year, about 1.1 million people were arrested crossing the
border illegally from Mexico, more than a third of them through
the heavily trafficked desert corridor south of Tucson, Arizona.
The Border Patrol said the system, which is being built by aerospace
giant Boeing under a contract estimated at some $2 billion, is a
necessary step to close the border to illegal entrants and allow
agents to promptly identify and capture illegal immigrants and drug
smugglers.
Information captured by the towers -- including live images giving
GPS locations of any intruders -- will be streamed live via satellite
from command centers in Tucson and Sells to Border Patrol agents
with laptops patrolling nearby.
Eventually it will be integrated into a wider network, including
a fleet of Predator B unmanned surveillance drones.
"We need to have eyes on what's happening here," said
Tucson sector Border Patrol spokesman Jesus Rodriguez. "We
are not placing the town under surveillance, but we will be watching
whatever is walking north to the town," he added.
Some ranchers around the former gold and silver mining community
favor the project, which they say is needed to stem the flow of
illegal immigrants, who they said cut cattle fences and dump trash.
Some local residents predicted that the technology would meet with
opposition in other rural areas as it is rolled out along the rest
of the state's border with Mexico by the end of 2008.
"It's not just Arivaca," high school teacher Luke Brannen
said. "It's going to affect a lot of people in other communities
in the future. They're next."
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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