Posted on 04/23/2020 4:46:57 AM PDT by BeauBo
The Trump administration has been quietly adding military surveillance cameras at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the coronavirus pandemic...
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show the Department of Defense, at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, sent 60 mobile surveillance cameras and 540 additional troops to the southwest border this month...
The addition of the mobile cameras, which are are mounted in the back of trucks, bring the total to 192, according to the documents...
As of Sunday, the 60 added mobile surveillance cameras planned to be manned and operational, according to the documents...
With the additional troops, about 3,000 active-duty service members are on the border along with 2,500 National Guard troops. Barred from law enforcement duties, they have kept a low profile and are largely doing on-the-ground surveillance.
The border mission - marking one of the longest deployments of active-duty troops to the border in U.S. history - has cost more than $500 million since October 2017. The Defense Department also has reallocated nearly $10 billion to building Trump's border wall.
"The U.S. border is the most militarized peacetime border in the world, and the border is more militarized today than it ever was in the entire history of our two countries."
(Excerpt) Read more at whec.com ...
“Anyone remember the border cameras from years ago? We could watch anytime and even alert BP if we saw border crashers.”
Nowadays, they have artificial intelligence software that can monitor all the camera feeds unblinkingly, and alert the human operators - even slew and zoom the cameras for them, for a close up look.
This warms my heart.
L
It wasn’t that long ago the Democrats were demanding a “virtual” border wall instead of a physical one. This is what they were trying to get instead of a fence. Now that it is being built too, instead of just being unbuilt future plans, they no longer want it. What they really want is no border enforcement at all, but they know they can’t sell that.
Apparently the Associate Professor is ignorant of history. They ought to make him take a history course or two. Most of the rest of us have heard of the Maginot Line.
“It wasn’t that long ago the Democrats were demanding a “virtual” border wall instead of a physical one.”
Not only are we getting both, we are actually getting multiple overlays of assorted types of “virtual walls”.
Day/Night Cameras, radar, LIDAR, seismic (vibration) sensors, heat sensors, acoustic sensors, motion sensors, high and low altitude drones, planes, blimps, etc..
Gosh - surprise that he’s following the plan...like saying there’s no need to get that door lock fixed, there’s only a few known burglars robbing homes around here...
Nice job on the border, keeping all promises made.
I have been involved with these in AFG and there is so much more they can do than just be a camera. The extension on that thing is almost 4 stories high and can give really nice coordinates to whoever needs them.
Telescopic, UV, infrared, etc., etc. Really great toys for boys.
Is there anyone left in Mexico?
Why does some NY upstate chiphole care what’s going on at the border?
Fewer people crossing should have nothing to do with the planned border security construction, it needs to continue as planned.!
I don’t want crossings to just drop. I want the illegal invasion of our country to cease - zero illegals making it into our country for more than the few minutes it takes to intercept them, give them a fair trial, permanently ban them from ever reentering the United States legally or acquiring legal status here, and then deport them to their home countries.
“Is there anyone left in Mexico?”
I heard that Mexico did not send a team to the Olympic Games that were held in LA, because everyone who could run, jump or swim was already there...
“”The U.S. border is the most militarized peacetime border in the world, and the border is more militarized today than it ever was in the entire history of our two countries.””
I guess the Israeli border doesn’t count.///
Nor the North Korean and South Korean border and likely a host of others.
Sad to think it will all be unplugged if the admin changes. Wish it was all permanent and physical. Mobile systems/electronics can all be easily removed. We need physical unalterable barriers that inflict harm on those trying to breech them.
No need to divert high-dollar jets for the mission. Super Tucanos would fit the bill just fine.
“Mobile systems/electronics can all be easily removed. We need physical unalterable barriers”
No doubt that the Left will disable what they can, as soon as they can.
In the meantime those, these mobile systems are already making a big difference along hundreds of miles of border, as they must wait for their Wall System to get built.
Wall System construction is ramping up, and will continue to accelerate throughout this year, as a mountain of new money is getting put onto contracts. A total of about $6 billion was put on contract for Wall System in 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. About $12 billion is teed up to put on contract this year. We have been awarding about half a billion a week, over the last two weeks.
Since when is protecting the border from foreign invasion a duty for law enforcement to handle?
Dear God I despise the MSM. Every sentence a little propaganda bomb.
“Since when is protecting the border from foreign invasion a duty for law enforcement to handle?”
In this rare case, it is true.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was designed to keep the Military out of Domestic law Enforcement.
There are emergency exceptions (like Hurricane Katrina, the LA Riots), and the National Guard can exercise Law Enforcement authority on behalf of State Governors (if ordered), but the Active Duty Military is supposed to stay out of enforcing domestic laws.
Individual lawbreakers (even if foreigners), who are unarmed non-combatants, are not military targets for the use of lethal Military force, under the laws of war. So there is no automatic legal exception to Posse Comitatus for border enforcement as an invasion (not an organized military force).
What the Military has been doing, is providing lots of other support functions, to free up the badged Border Patrol Officers to conduct arrests.
The Military does a lot of direct surveillance, and pulls shifts in the command posts, watching the screens, in place of Border Patrol Officers. They are flying planes, driving trucks, providing maintenance and medical services. Combat Engineers are hardening the Ports of Entry with crowd control infrastructure, and emplacing hundreds of miles of concertina per year, between Ports of Entry (most of it now is going on top of new bollard Wall System, after the contractors are finished).
I think a case can be made that at least some elements crossing the southern border are part of an organized military (or military-like) force that pose a grave danger to the country. Al Qaeda certainly did its bit while it was here. Iran has sleeper cells awaiting orders to strike. Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations, too. Even the drug cartels qualify for military interdiction by our armed forces, imo. Of course, not everyone should be greeted with a gun in his face. But, in order to be effective, everyone has to go through the same screening process and woe be to he who resists. I’d love to see the libs try to stop Trump from militarizing the border in that sense. In the courts or in their press. I don’t care. They would lose. Just my man-in-the-street opinion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.