138 Migrants Died Within Range of California Border Surveillance Towers
At least 138 migrants died within range of California border surveillance towers from 2022 to 2025, exposing risks in a planned $1.4 billion expansion.
Summary
On September 14, 2025, Graciela Gómez Hernández, 30, crossed from Tijuana into California after paying smugglers 20,000 pesos, about $1,150, hoping to support her parents and three children. Lost and exhausted within hours, she sent a final message between 2 and 3 p.m.; her last location ping arrived at 4 p.m. The Armadillos search group gave coordinates to Border Patrol on October 3, and her skeletonized remains were found October 4, about 100 yards north of Mexico. No food or water was nearby, but decomposition prevented determining murder or dehydration. Her family paid over $4,000 to return her remains for a funeral nine months later.
A General Dynamics tower installed in 2019 stood one mile away, with cameras rated to track targets 5 to 7 miles; an Anduril AI tower was 1.4 miles away. Border Patrol would not say whether the older tower worked or detected her. California has more than 120 towers. From 2022 through 2025, at least 138 migrant remains were found within nominal tower range, 81 likely with unobstructed camera exposure. The wider network includes trail cameras, movement detectors, radar, infrared sensors, drones and blimps; President Donald Trump ordered satellite monitoring in March 2025.
In October 2024, 30% of older towers, 150 units, were broken; seven military G-BOSS(E) towers also suffered tipping, rodents, battery loss and stuck cameras. The Government Accountability Office counted 803 fielded southwest towers in June 2026, with 175 more planned under a $1.4 billion initiative, $1 billion expected from the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and 2,300 towers projected by 2034. Anduril, maker of about half the border towers, said its systems had autonomously identified hundreds of thousands of crossings by June 2026. Crossings and recorded deaths have fallen since January 2025, but advocates say surveillance redirects migrants into harsher routes; at least two people had recently disappeared in Otay Mountain Wilderness by mid-September 2026.
Positives
- Anduril said its towers had autonomously identified hundreds of thousands of border crossings by June 2026.
- Customs and Border Protection began repairing older towers and replaced dozens of cameras with AI models in 2026.
- Border crossings and recorded migrant deaths have decreased since Donald Trump took office in January 2025.
- Armadillos supplied Gómez Hernández’s coordinates, enabling recovery and DNA identification of her remains.
Risks & concerns
- At least 138 migrants died within California tower range from 2022 through 2025, including 81 likely visible without terrain obstruction.
- Thirty percent of older surveillance towers, representing 150 units, were broken in October 2024.
- Seven G-BOSS(E) towers suffered tipping, rodent damage, battery depletion, exhaust problems and cameras stuck at one zoom level.
- Border Patrol would not disclose whether the General Dynamics tower detected Gómez Hernández or was operational when she died.
- Expanded surveillance may force migrants onto longer, hotter routes or make them rush without resting or drinking water.