Rep. Ramirez Proposes Bill to End Border Surveillance Towers

US Representative Delia Ramirez, a Democrat from Illinois, has announced her intention to introduce legislation aimed at terminating the surveillance tower program along the United States' southern border. This proposal follows an investigation by MIT Technology Review, published shortly before the announcement, which examined deaths occurring near these surveillance towers. The MIT Technology Review investigation, titled “Dying on Camera,” found that a significant portion of border deaths analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 happened within the advertised operational range of these towers. Specifically, the report indicated that nearly one in four deaths analyzed occurred within this range. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not maintain records tracking these deaths or other metrics to assess the program's effectiveness or failures. Representative Ramirez, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, referenced the MIT Technology Review's findings, stating that approximately "1,100 people have died within range of a billion-dollar surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026." She further asserted that "The towers that we have paid a billion dollars to just don’t work." The proposed legislation, named the Reimagining Safety Act, was developed through consultations with various community groups and local and state representatives. Advocacy organizations, including Just Futures Law, which focuses on immigrant rights and racial justice, and Mijente, an organization aiming to build independent Latinx political power, played a role in shaping the calls to end the border towers program. These organizations had previously released a joint report earlier this year concerning the technology utilized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Reimagining Safety Act is envisioned as part of a larger proposal to fundamentally restructure the Department of Homeland Security. This broader initiative includes replacing DHS with a new Department of Community Safety and reassigning functions of agencies such as CISA, FEMA, TSA, and customs to other existing federal departments. The specific text of Ramirez's proposed legislation has not yet been released by her office, with an expectation that it will be made public in the coming weeks. The push to abolish ICE has seen growing public support, particularly in the wake of heightened enforcement operations conducted by the second Trump administration in American cities and the expansion of its detention facilities.