Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
San Clemente Residents Fight Back Against Border Patrol Anduril Tower
On Tuesday April 28, residents of San Clemente will hold a town hall meeting to respond to the City Council's January 2026 decision to allow U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to deploy an Anduril surveillance tower on a ridge above the beachside town for up to twenty years for a one-time $10 rental fee.
The town hall meeting will feature remarks by San Clemente City Council Member Mark Enmeier, Oakland Privacy Research Director Mike Katz-Lacabe, and Bill Kreutinger, among others. Sergio Farias, City Council member for District 1 in the neighboring town of San Juan Capistrano, Michael Villar, City Council member for District 5 in the neighboring town of Dana Point are expected in attendance, as well as the offices of State Senator Catherine Blakespear, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, Congressional representative Mike Levin, Congressional representative Dave Min and State Senatorial Candidate Chris Duncan.
Event Details: Tuesday April 28th at 6:00pm at San Clemente Community Center - Fireside Room 100 N. Calle Seville San Clemente, CA 92672
The San Clemente Anduril tower is believed to be the first deployment of an Anduril surveillance tower in a densely populated area not located directly on the US-Mexico border.
According to materials presented at the San Clemente City Council, Customs and Border Patrol has ownership of the equipment with no access for local law enforcement, no data retention, data use or datasharing limits are in effect, all information collected will be shared with ICE, and language in the contract allows for tracking and monitoring throughout residential areas while pursuing "smugglers".
Similar surveillance towers deployed along the US-Mexico border have been outfitted with artificial intelligence analytics, machine learning and advanced technologies including radar, electro-optical and thermal sensors, and recognition software.
Oakland Privacy's advocacy director Tracy Rosenberg comments:
The planned deployment of an Anduril tower along a heavily used Orange County coastline 75 miles from the border demonstrates that the militarization of the border region is rapidly moving northwards and across the entire state.
###
About Oakland Privacy
Oakland Privacy is a citizens coalition that works statewide to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight over the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.
Event Details: Tuesday April 28th at 6:00pm at San Clemente Community Center - Fireside Room 100 N. Calle Seville San Clemente, CA 92672
The San Clemente Anduril tower is believed to be the first deployment of an Anduril surveillance tower in a densely populated area not located directly on the US-Mexico border.
According to materials presented at the San Clemente City Council, Customs and Border Patrol has ownership of the equipment with no access for local law enforcement, no data retention, data use or datasharing limits are in effect, all information collected will be shared with ICE, and language in the contract allows for tracking and monitoring throughout residential areas while pursuing "smugglers".
Similar surveillance towers deployed along the US-Mexico border have been outfitted with artificial intelligence analytics, machine learning and advanced technologies including radar, electro-optical and thermal sensors, and recognition software.
Oakland Privacy's advocacy director Tracy Rosenberg comments:
The planned deployment of an Anduril tower along a heavily used Orange County coastline 75 miles from the border demonstrates that the militarization of the border region is rapidly moving northwards and across the entire state.
###
About Oakland Privacy
Oakland Privacy is a citizens coalition that works statewide to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight over the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.
For more information:
https://oaklandprivacy.org/
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
Funded by Trump supporter Peter Thiel, the autonomous surveillance towers can detect a human from 2.8km away
Fri 16 Sep 2022
On a hot May afternoon in southern California, near the border with Mexico, white-and-green border vehicles patrol the two-lane highway, black helicopters glide across the sky – and their latest companions, autonomous surveillance towers built by the tech defence company Anduril, peek over the ridges.
One Anduril tower, perched on a hill, has a clear view over the rusty brown border wall and into the Mexican town of Tecate. From here, it can detect people who climb over the wall and walk across the rugged landscape on the US side. Approach the hill and the camera atop the tower swivels toward you.
These boulder-speckled hills of the Otay Mountain Wilderness of California have seen a sharp increase in border crossings in the last year, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Since March 2020, the US has expelled nearly 2 million people under Title 42, a pandemic-era rule that closes safe ports of entry to asylum seekers. Rather than wait in Mexico border towns, where they are at risk of kidnapping and sexual assault, migrants have instead attempted to reach US soil via dangerous routes – across deserts, mountains, rivers and oceans. More than 50 died in June after they were abandoned in a truck in the sweltering Texas heat.
Now, as migrants cross the border, they are being watched full-time.
Powered by solar panels, the Anduril towers operate day and night and can be set up in remote areas, including near military bases, airports and oil and gas pipelines, the company boasts on its website. The towers use an artificial intelligence system called Lattice to autonomously identify, detect and track “objects of interest”, such as humans or vehicles. The cameras pan 360 degrees and can detect a human from 2.8km away.
When the system identifies an object, it sends a notification to border agents on their phone or desktop, and an image appears with bright green rectangles around the item, according to an Anduril promotional video. CBP has described these towers as “a partner that never sleeps, never needs to take a coffee break, never even blinks”.
Fri 16 Sep 2022
On a hot May afternoon in southern California, near the border with Mexico, white-and-green border vehicles patrol the two-lane highway, black helicopters glide across the sky – and their latest companions, autonomous surveillance towers built by the tech defence company Anduril, peek over the ridges.
One Anduril tower, perched on a hill, has a clear view over the rusty brown border wall and into the Mexican town of Tecate. From here, it can detect people who climb over the wall and walk across the rugged landscape on the US side. Approach the hill and the camera atop the tower swivels toward you.
These boulder-speckled hills of the Otay Mountain Wilderness of California have seen a sharp increase in border crossings in the last year, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Since March 2020, the US has expelled nearly 2 million people under Title 42, a pandemic-era rule that closes safe ports of entry to asylum seekers. Rather than wait in Mexico border towns, where they are at risk of kidnapping and sexual assault, migrants have instead attempted to reach US soil via dangerous routes – across deserts, mountains, rivers and oceans. More than 50 died in June after they were abandoned in a truck in the sweltering Texas heat.
Now, as migrants cross the border, they are being watched full-time.
Powered by solar panels, the Anduril towers operate day and night and can be set up in remote areas, including near military bases, airports and oil and gas pipelines, the company boasts on its website. The towers use an artificial intelligence system called Lattice to autonomously identify, detect and track “objects of interest”, such as humans or vehicles. The cameras pan 360 degrees and can detect a human from 2.8km away.
When the system identifies an object, it sends a notification to border agents on their phone or desktop, and an image appears with bright green rectangles around the item, according to an Anduril promotional video. CBP has described these towers as “a partner that never sleeps, never needs to take a coffee break, never even blinks”.
For more information:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/s...
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$160.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network