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.

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.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russia's drones threaten Kyiv-bound Western officials as war effort stalls Share Russia's drones threaten Kyiv-bound Western officials as war effort stalls on social media Russia has threatened the safety of Ukrainian, American and European officials travelling to and from Kyiv using drones. These attacks have come as Russia's ground war stumbles. On September 13, Russian drones struck a Ukrainian train locomotive 5km (3 miles) from the border with Poland, endangering European officials travelling to Warsaw after they attended the Yalta European Strategy conference, an annual gathering of global political, business and civil society leaders in Kyiv. Boris Johnson, Britain's former premier, and European political and security officials were on the train.

Finland completed a 124-mile border fence along its frontier with Russia to counter hybrid warfare tactics, including the weaponization of migration to destabilize border security.

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Is the war entering a new phase? NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has pledged additional support for Ukraine after Russian drone strikes hit close to the border with Poland. Rutte insisted on Monday that the 32-nation military alliance will not be deterred from backing Kyiv in the Russia-Ukraine war, and that it will beef up its own defences along the eastern border with Russia. On Sunday, Russian drones hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border and a second strike hit close to another crossing point. The strike that hit the train came minutes after a diplomatic delegation that included former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt had passed through the station, according to Ukraine's state rail operator.

Is the war entering a new phase? Several civilians have been killed and more than 20 others wounded overnight as Russia and Ukraine continue to attack each other with waves of drones to try to shift momentum in the more than four-year-long war. Russia launched 863 drones at Ukraine over the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Sunday. Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night, the country's Ministry of Defence said, including over Tatarstan, other Russian regions, and the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Russia carried out two drone attacks near Ukraine's border with NATO member Poland, Polish and Ukrainian officials said.

The new joint operation uses laser-based technology capable of detecting, tracking, and disabling commercial drones linked to human and drug trafficking. A US Border Patrol agent demonstrates the use of a drone near the border with Mexico. Defense agencies of Mexico and the US have announced they are implementing a new collaborative strategy to combat drones used by criminal organizations. The operation, dubbed High Eagle, or Águila Alta, builds on recent tests of anti-drone technologies carried out along the border between the two countries. The first phase of the strategy took place between August 31 and September 2 along the border between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russian drones have struck a border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova in the southern Odesa region, killing at least two people, and also targeted the capital, Kyiv, overnight, according to Ukrainian authorities. Two civilians were killed and three others were injured in the attack near the Starokozache crossing, Governor Oleh Kiper said on Wednesday in a post on Telegram. Russia also attacked Kyiv overnight, causing fires but no casualties, emergency services said in a Telegram post. The Russian defence ministry said its forces had struck a Ukrainian cargo vessel carrying military equipment in the Black Sea en route to the port of Odesa, as well as a warehouse in Kyiv, belonging allegedly to a company manufacturing drones, Russian news agencies reported.

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