US Border Virtual Wall Death Map Analyzes Nearly 4,000 Cases
A 15 month investigation maps nearly 4,000 migrant deaths against US border towers, exposing data gaps, blind spots and unanswered surveillance failures.
Summary
A 15 month investigation built the first comprehensive map of migrant deaths near US Customs and Border Protection surveillance towers, analyzing nearly 4,000 cases since 2015 and interviewing more than 45 insiders and experts. Border Patrol estimates more than 10,000 crossing deaths since 2000, widely considered an undercount. Data included more than 1,500 Texas cases from 4,000 pages secured from 14 of 17 relevant counties, more than 1,700 Humane Borders cases through April 2026, and nearly 1,000 No More Deaths cases covering California, New Mexico, Yuma, El Paso and Hudspeth. Texas records arrived July 2025 to February 2026; Dimmit and Duval supplied none, Maverick’s fee was prohibitive, others charged $300 to $1,300, and several hundred cases lacked usable locations. Anthropic’s Claude extracted Kenedy, Webb and Hidalgo coordinates before manual verification; fewer than 100 approximate cases were retained within 0.25 miles.
Electronic Frontier Foundation data and satellite imagery established tower locations, types and installation dates, including removed towers. Government records indicate about 800 towers, versus roughly 600 catalogued, leaving gaps. A death counted only if within a camera’s advertised range and estimated after installation. Greg Hess of Pima County helped translate decomposition into death windows. Stanford researcher Minho Kim calculated distances and 30 meter terrain viewsheds using tower height ranges and a 5 foot 6 inch person; undated skeletal remains received a six month minimum, while uncertain cases required three years of tower presence. The model cannot confirm towers were powered, operational or alerted agents; imperfect dates, elevation cells, vegetation, buildings and moved remains constrain conclusions. CBP withholds alerts and retains footage only when custody deaths trigger investigations. DHS denied a July 2026 Big Bend visit concerning expanding Anduril towers; CBP and Anduril avoided substantive answers, General Dynamics referred questions to CBP, and Elbit did not respond.
Positives
- Nearly 4,000 cases since 2015 created the first comprehensive analysis of migrant deaths near US border surveillance towers.
- More than 1,700 Humane Borders cases provided Arizona locations precise enough for analysis through April 2026.
- Fourteen of 17 relevant Texas counties supplied more than 4,000 pages supporting over 1,500 included cases.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation records and satellite imagery established tower locations, types, installation dates and removals.
- Anthropic’s Claude extracted coordinates from high volume county files, with batches manually checked for accuracy.
Risks & concerns
- More than 10,000 crossing deaths since 2000 remain an acknowledged Border Patrol undercount.
- About 800 towers appear in government records, but only roughly 600 have been catalogued, leaving surveillance coverage incomplete.
- Dimmit and Duval supplied no records, Maverick’s fees were prohibitive, and Texas sheriff files exclude deaths handled by other police.
- Tower visibility cannot prove equipment was powered, transmitting data, functioning properly or generating alerts for agents.
- CBP withholds alert histories and usually preserves footage only when a death in custody triggers an internal investigation.
- DHS denied the July 2026 Big Bend visit, while government contractors provided limited or no substantive answers.