New aerostat to monitor deadly migrant smuggling route

SANTA TERESA, New Mexico (Border Report) – More than 140 migrants have died in the El Paso sector of the Border Patrol since Oct. 1, many of whom did not survive the scorching desert of southern New Mexico.

That’s one reason why U.S. Customs and Border Protection is poised to deploy a high-tech surveillance ship just west of the port of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, two federal lawmakers said.

“This technology isn’t just about apprehending people who are crossing the border illegally; it’s also about saving lives,” said U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico, “and we can do that effectively with several different types of technology, including the aerostat that should come online next month here at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol station.”

Vasquez and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, visited the port of entry on Monday to see how federal dollars are being used to purchase border technology.

They highlighted the year-old X-ray gates for trucks, part of a $400 million federal border technology appropriation, that are used to detect contraband hidden in cargo and pledged to secure more funding to have enough CBP personnel on the ground to operate the gates.

CBP officers “can now scan a lot of the vehicles that come in, but it’s not 100 percent,” Heinrich said. “We need to expand that; we need to make sure we have the personnel to support that so they’re scanning as much of the vehicle as possible.”

Heinrich and Vasquez were scheduled to meet later in the day in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with members of a regional, local and federal drug enforcement task force to discuss the benefits of federal budget support in the fight against fentanyl trafficking.

It was a visit that their GOP opponents in the November election labeled a political campaign photo op, eight weeks before early voting starts in New Mexico.

“Martin Heinrich has voted against security for years, only to act like he cares weeks before the election because he loses to someone who does care,” said Republican Senate candidate Nella Domenici.

“Heinrich has actively exacerbated our border crisis, with dangerous voting behavior by opening our borders and unleashing drug cartels and deadly drugs from China into our state,” she said.

Yvette Herrell, candidate for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, added: “Gabe’s trip to the border today is nothing more than a campaign stunt. He has voted against securing the border over eight times and has called border security a racist, environmentally destructive, colossal waste of money.”

Vasquez, who unseated Herrell in the 2022 federal election, said he has introduced two bills to combat drug cartels that smuggle drugs and migrants across the border with the complicity of American citizens on their payrolls.

The No More Narcos Act calls for a public education campaign to discourage American high school students from hiring themselves out as drug couriers or migrant “cargo” drivers. The Stop Coyotes Act calls for tougher penalties for the cartel members who hire them.

Heinrich said he was prepared to push through asylum reforms to discourage human trafficking, a bill former President Donald Trump reportedly told Republicans in Congress.

“We had a very comprehensive border security bill that Trump’s party wanted to get rid of. After the election, I hope we can sit down again and pass that legislation. If we have to tweak it here and there, that’s fine,” Heinrich said.