Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of The Virtual Border Wall

Over the past 25 years, the US has spent billions building a “virtual wall” of surveillance towers along its southern border, promising the technology would help detect and apprehend border crossers and save lives. But an MIT Technology Review investigation documented more than a thousand people who moved through areas watched by those towers without being reached or apprehended, and who ultimately died there.

Some of those deaths occurred under the watch of newly installed AI-powered towers designed to spot people automatically. The findings reveal a humanitarian crisis more visible than previously known and repeated failures of the virtual wall’s basic security promise.

The roundtable conversation examines the failures of border surveillance technology and uncovers the stories of people who die in the borderlands. Speakers include Mat Honan, editor in chief; James O’Donnell, senior AI reporter; and Eileen Guo, senior features and investigations reporter.