A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program | MIT Technology Review

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By Eileen Guoarchive pageSeptember 23, 2026Brian Thorpe Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced a plan to introduce new legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the US southern border.  The announcement comes just days after publication of an MIT Technology Review investigation, “Dying on Camera,” in which we looked at deaths along the border that took place close to one or more of these towers. MIT Technology Review found that nearly one in four deaths we analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 occurred within their advertised range. We also showed that the Department of Homeland Security does not keep track of these deaths or other metrics on the towers’ success or failure.  Ramirez, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, cited MIT Technology Review’s reporting that nearly “1,100 people have died within range of a billion-dollar surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026,” adding, “The towers that we have paid a billion dollars to just don’t work.”  Related StoryThe US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?Read next The legislation, the Reimagining Safety Act, was developed in consultation with community groups and local and state representatives. The advocacy organizations Just Futures Law, which focuses on immigrant rights and racial justice, and Mijente, which describes itself as a “vehicle for building independent Latinx political power,” helped shape the calls to terminate the border towers program, following a joint report they put out earlier this year on the technology used by ICE.  The legislation is intended to be part of a broader proposal to replace the Department of Homeland Security with a new Department of Community Safety while moving CISA, FEMA, TSA, and customs functions to other existing federal agencies. Her office has yet to release the text of the proposed legislation, saying that it will come in the next few weeks.  There has been growing public support for abolishing ICE in the wake of the second Trump administration’s highly visible enforcement operations across American cities, the buildout of its detention apparatus, and shootings by ICE and CBP agents. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a delivery driver, was shot in the back by an ICE agent just last weekend in Austin, Texas. 
But for Ramirez, abolishing just ICE is not enough. At a press conference held in Chicago on Wednesday, Ramirez said, “There’s no question that DHS has to be dismantled. We need to provide them a road map in how we do it,” Ramirez said.  It will not be the first time that a bill to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security has been introduced, but previous proposals have not gone very far. This proposal will also face a steep uphill battle in Congress, where even some Democrats favor reforming rather than outright dismantling the organization.  Ramirez, however, sits on both the House committee that oversees the department, and is the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee.   “We're limiting state surveillance, we're reigning unlawful abuses of data and curbing the militarized enforcement. We're beginning the process of establishing a separate civil immigration system," Ramirez said. DHS and CBP did not offer an immediate response for comment.  by Eileen GuoShareShare story on linkedinShare story on facebookShare story on emailPopularA fundamental flaw leaves LLMs strikingly vulnerable to attackWill Douglas HeavenAI’s recursive self-improvement might not come so quickly after allMichelle KimHere’s why AI agents lie and cheat to reach their goalsGrace HuckinsThese startups are chasing the next big thing in LLMsWill Douglas HeavenKeep ReadingMost PopularA fundamental flaw leaves LLMs strikingly vulnerable to attackIt makes it easy to trick them into doing things they shouldn’t, such as telling you how to sabotage an aircraft’s navigation system.
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A congressional representative from Illinois, Delia Ramirez, has announced plans to introduce legislation aimed at terminating the surveillance tower program along the United States southern border. This proposal follows an investigation published by the MIT Technology Review titled “Dying on Camera,” which examined deaths occurring near these surveillance towers. The investigation found that nearly one in four of the deaths analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 occurred within the advertised range of these towers, and furthermore, it revealed that the Department of Homeland Security does not maintain records of these deaths or metrics regarding the towers' operational success or failure. Ramirez utilized this reporting to assert that the billion dollar surveillance tower system has been ineffective, citing that nearly one thousand one hundred people died within range between 2015 and 2026, thereby arguing that the towers "just don’t work."

The proposed legislation is named the Reimagining Safety Act and was developed in consultation with advocacy groups including Just Futures Law and Mijente, which focused on immigrant rights and political power. This effort reflects a broader movement seeking to address systemic issues related to border enforcement and technology. Furthermore, there is growing public support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), driven partly by highly visible enforcement actions and incidents involving ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents, such as the shooting of delivery driver Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez.

Ramirez emphasized that dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is necessary, but stressed the need for a structured roadmap for this process. She highlighted the goals of her proposed action, which include limiting state surveillance, curbing unlawful data abuses, and reducing militarized enforcement, alongside initiating the process of establishing a distinct civil immigration system. Although this proposal seeks to restructure federal agencies by replacing the DHS with a new Department of Community Safety and relocating functions like CISA, FEMA, TSA, and customs to existing agencies, it is anticipated to face significant opposition in Congress, as even some Democrats favor reform over complete dismantling of the organization. Ramirez currently holds influential positions on relevant House committees, including the one overseeing the department and the cybersecurity subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee, positioning her to advance these reforms.