How we made the first comprehensive map of deaths along the US border's "virtual wall" We analyzed whether nearly 4,000 migrant deaths occurred within sight of the US government's surveillance towers. Our investigation found people dying near border surveillance towers that promised faster responses to crossings. Our 15-month investigation into death and surveillance along the US-Mexico border began with a simple question: Why did so many people die near government surveillance towers meant to help track and apprehend them? This story is part of Dying on Camera, a collaboration between and . To answer that question, we looked through thousands of pages of government documents, visited the border multiple times, and interviewed more than 45 people, including current and former White House advisors, presidential appointees, Border Patrol agents, medical examiners, sheriffs, humanitarian volunteers, and employees of tech companies. The result of our investigation is the first comprehensive map and analysis of deaths near border surveillance towers. Here's how we built it, what decisions we made along the way, and what the data can and can't tell us. The investigation relied on knowing where migrants have died and where and when US Customs and Border Protection towers were installed.

The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can't it catch people before they die? Surveillance towers, increasingly powered by AI, promised faster responses to crossings. Our investigation of deaths near the towers found they are failing to deliver. When José Morales Bernal crossed the border into the United States on April 8, 2024, the day before his 32nd birthday, it should have triggered a chain of technological alerts and human responses. As he walked through the desert in southern New Mexico that morning, he was within range of three surveillance towers. Newly installed by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), they were built by the defense tech company Anduril and equipped with cameras and AI to automatically detect and track people. They transmit live video to nearby control rooms and can send alerts to the government-issued smartphones held by agents in the area, prompting the closest available to respond. This story is part of Dying on Camera, a collaboration between and . These AI-enabled towers are meant to give greater visibility across the 1,951-mile southern border, freeing up border agents from having to spend hours staring into video monitors. They were installed in this particular place to spot border crossers before they reached the nearby town of Sunland Park. If the system worked as intended, Morales should have been apprehended. If he needed medical help, agents were trained to provide it. Despite the nearby surveillance towers, it was employees of the local landfill, rather than Border Patrol, who first spotted Morales that morning. At 1 p.m. the workers saw him again, now lying in the sand. At 4 p.m. the landfill workers saw that he had not moved and called Border Patrol. Agents arrived 45 minutes later. When an agent then called 911 to report the body, he said it was "probably one of the migrants crossing through there," seemingly unaware that Morales had been moving near the agency's surveillance systems earlier that day. Morales had died just 360 feet from the closest surveillance tower.

She died at the San Diego border. In Southern California's Otay Mountain Wilderness, the federal surveillance network seems unavoidable. But year after year, migrant deaths persist. A year ago, she crossed the border from Tijuana, and soon sent her family a final set of messages. She had only walked for a couple of hours, and already she was lost. It was early afternoon on Sept. 14, 2025, when 30-year-old Graciela Gómez Hernández crossed the border from the eastern edge of Tijuana into Southern California, sending voice messages to her mother and sister as she walked. This story is part of Dying on Camera, a collaboration between and . Gómez Hernández did not tell her family about her plan until the day before. Once she arrived in California, she hoped to work and send money back to her three children and her parents in southern Mexico. Her oldest son, age 11, had asked for a bicycle.

The US has spent billions on surveillance towers, but hundreds of people have died near them. Here's how to strengthen federal oversight. We found cases of people who walked undetected through areas surveilled by advanced, AI-enabled towers and later died nearby, where their bodies remained unnoticed for weeks or months. These cases reflect systemic flaws in the virtual wall: broken towers, algorithms that failed to detect people, and agents who simply did not respond to alerts. This story is part of Dying on Camera, a collaboration between and . Each of these deaths should have raised alarms inside US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) about the flaws in the agency's surveillance network.

NFL Week 2 Sunday takeaways: Packers are Jekyll and Hyde, Bengals have a defense, Chargers' season is over Cowboys' Cobie Durant gets stepped on in worst place possible during win over Commanders Browns' Deshaun Watson may have silenced doubters after outlasting Baker Mayfield and 2-hour weather delay Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase scores jaw-dropping first touchdown of the season after lackluster Week 1 start Mississippi gov trolls Lane Kiffin, LSU after Ole Miss defeats Tigers in coach's return to Oxford Abigail Spanberger slammed after admin ends women's sports protection proposal Trump pushes'AI Force' proposal as regulation debate grows Trump-Xi mini summit will require some'finesse': Brian Kilmeade China wants to dominate the future and will'cripple' the US to do so, expert says The'summer of the DSA' presented the Republicans with a life jacket: Hugh Hewitt Congress is moving in the'right direction' on AI: Sen Mike Rounds OutKick Sports Falcons' Drake London shouts at fan amid team's blowout loss to Panthers Atlanta Falcons star Drake London didn't want to hear anything from anyone as they were getting blown out by the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The FOX broadcast caught London yelling back at a fan who was apparently shouting at him in the third quarter as the Falcons trailed 34-3. The wide receiver had some team personnel around him as he pointed at the fan and yelled back at him. Drake London #5 of the Atlanta Falcons leaves the field after his team's 34-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 20, 2026, in Atlanta, Ga. It appeared London was shouting expletives.

Three tourists stranded at Lost Boy Beach on the Oregon coast were rescued by the fire department after a rising tide trapped them in the Tillamook County cove.

Donald Trump secured nine new pricing agreements with drug manufacturers, demonstrating his commitment to lowering prescription drug prices for American patients.

The Texas Department of Transportation launched Project Nexus, a three-year program testing eVTOL aircraft and air taxi operations with Joby Aviation in North Texas skies.

Lights blink on as I enter the Rover Operations Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, at 7:30 a.m. I'm the first to arrive, even though I already feel late. Sometime during the night on Earth, the Curiosity rover finished its day exploring on Mars and beamed its latest collection of images and measurements to a Mars orbiter zooming by overhead. The orbiter relayed the data to Earth, where it now waits on servers here and at partner institutions around the globe. Once our rover operations shift kicks off at 8:15 a.m., a few dozen engineers and scientists will have just three hours to check the health of the rover, analyze the new science data and agree on the next set of rover activities.

Officials discussed setting up a mechanism for the two countries to notify each other of AI incidents which could threaten national security. Talks have begun between US and Chinese officials to propose a mechanism for the two countries to notify each other of artificial intelligence incidents which could threaten national security. The framework, called the US China AI Dialogue, would also see representatives from both countries meet again to discuss the technology and try to align on common goals and threats, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "We think that, just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important," Bessent told reporters on Sunday. Bessent said the discussions picked up from where they had been left off after US President Donald Trump's visit to Beijing in May.