US Border Patrol deploys high-tech blimp in New Mexico desert – DNyuz

A new, advanced airship has been launched into the desert of southern New Mexico to help the US Border Patrol track groups of migrants crossing the border wall.

According to the Border Report, the airship, equipped with advanced cameras and technology, will also help officers find people in danger, such as those who have fallen or become lost in the desert.

The Juarez, Mexico-Santa Teresa, New Mexico desert region is one of the busiest human smuggling routes between Far West Texas and the New Mexico-Arizona border.

Since October 2023, more than 171 migrants have died crossing the border, compared to 143 in the previous fiscal year. Most of the reported deaths since June have occurred in the desert, where migrants unfamiliar with the area become lost while trying to reach smugglers’ pick-up points or are abandoned by their “foot guides” when they can’t keep up with the group.

The cameras installed in the Tactical Aerostat System airship, which is stationed at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station, can automatically focus and follow a group once a border crossing is detected, the border report said.

The system can then send information to operators, who then forward the data to border guards, who can prevent illegal border crossings or search for migrants in danger.

Officials allowed reporters to take photos of the blimp on Monday. But authorities did not answer questions about its size or whether the cameras could see into Mexico, where smugglers operate and help migrants cross the border using ladders.

A photo of the airship was shared on X.

According to police, there are three transnational criminal organizations that control human trafficking in Juarez: La Linea, La Empresa and the Sinaloa Cartel.

La Empresa is the most active group in the Santa Teresa area, and U.S. officials are currently prosecuting suspects with ties to migrant hiding places found in nearby Sunland Park, New Mexico. These hiding places have been linked to La Empresa in court documents.

Police in the Mexican city of Chihuahua reported last month that they had rescued 1,245 migrants from criminal gangs in the past seven months.

Last month, a report found an increase in “unnecessary” family separations at the US-Mexico border, and that migrants were being mistreated while in US Border Patrol custody.

This story first appeared on Latin Times

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