More than 1,050 people died within range of US border surveillance towers from 2015 to early 2026, MIT Technology Review found, including José Morales Bernal, who died 360 feet from an Anduril tower in New Mexico.
Nearly two-thirds of the roughly 600 towers analyzed were near at least one death, and MIT said most fatalities were not in blind spots, pointing to both detection failures and missed agent responses.
The investigation identified more than 110 deaths near Anduril’s autonomous towers since 2021 and estimated 500 to 700 near older RVSS systems, while former agents described broken equipment, missed alerts and thin staffing.
CBP said autonomous towers improve detection and situational awareness, while Anduril said CBP operates the systems and that terrain and agency-set viewing boundaries affect actual coverage.
The findings land as CBP plans to spend $1 billion on 1,497 more AI-equipped towers by 2034, despite little evidence the agency systematically audits deaths or tower performance.