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AZ Town Opposes Border Fence

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Thu May 17, 2007 at 12:53:37 PM EST
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Arivaca, Arizona is making a big stink over proposed surveillance towers planned for the Mexican Border. They liken it to Big Brother.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is installing a network of nine towers with ground radar and night vision cameras to monitor a 28-mile (45-km) stretch of border near Arivaca, southwest of Tucson.

It is the first trial for the communications and technology arm of the government's Secure Border Initiative announced in 2005. Dubbed "SBInet," authorities say it will be extended across some 6,000 miles of the Mexican and Canadian borders in segments in coming years.

The town's population of 1,500 is very upset. They say the entire town will be under surveillance. I think they are right. They cost a bundle too.

More...

The Border Patrol said the system, which is being built by aerospace giant Boeing under a contract estimated at some $2 billion, is a necessary step to close the border to illegal entrants and allow agents to promptly identify and capture illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

Even George Orwell wouldn't have conceived of this:

Information captured by the towers -- including live images giving GPS locations of any intruders -- will be streamed live via satellite from command centers in Tucson and Sells to Border Patrol agents with laptops patrolling nearby.

Eventually it will be integrated into a wider network, including a fleet of Predator B unmanned surveillance drones.

Other communities will be next. America. Surveillance capital of the world. What a shame.

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    AZ Town Opposes Border Fence | 9 comments (9 topical)

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    The Key (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by squeaky on Thu May 17, 2007 at 01:02:21 PM EST
    They cost a bundle too.

    That is the only reason the towers are being built.

    Creepy (none / 0) (#2)
    by Militarytracy on Thu May 17, 2007 at 01:17:01 PM EST
    How would you like to be a necking teenager from Arivaca?

    Arivaca is a small western town that has done (none / 0) (#3)
    by JSN on Thu May 17, 2007 at 01:24:44 PM EST
    nothing to deserve such treatment. It is bad enough that they are
    up to you know what in border patrol agents and they have to pass
    check points all the time. We need to stick up for them because they are first in line.

    Are we... (none / 0) (#4)
    by desertswine on Thu May 17, 2007 at 01:30:24 PM EST
    there yet?

    et al (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu May 17, 2007 at 05:54:33 PM EST
    If you live in the middle of a crime scene, don't be surprised if the police are there.

    The question is, why would the protestors mind having someone trying to shut the illegals down?

    My understanding is that (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by JSN on Thu May 17, 2007 at 07:31:06 PM EST
    the houses and yards of everyone in Arivaca will be under continuous surveillance. At the present time they have to pass through one fixed check point and probably one randomly placed check point every time they leave town.

    There are a lot of folks in Arizona who are very opposed to illegal immigration and it is likely that some of them live in Arivaca. However the evidence that illegal entry is ongoing is in plain sight so I think they have good cause to think the effort to shut do illegal entry is a failure.

    Parent

    JSN (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu May 17, 2007 at 09:38:02 PM EST
    So? I understand it may be inconvenient. I know I wouldn't like it.

    But the fact remains. If you live in the middle of a crime scene, don't be surprised if the police are there.


    Parent

    Makes sense.... (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Fri May 18, 2007 at 11:46:19 AM EST
    I wouldn't want the govt. keeping my backyard under constant hi-tech uber-surveillance.  Thats creepy.

    There is a reason they don't like it (none / 0) (#9)
    by katmandu on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 05:55:42 PM EST
    The town makes money off illegal immigrants.
    They don't just live in a crime scene, they
    contribute to the crime.
    To be honest, alot of these little border towns
    have no other means of support, but they are
    contributing to bankrupting the state of Arizona.
    AZ Town Opposes Border Fence | 9 comments (9 topical)

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