A US Border Patrol agent looks out over Tijuana, Mexico, by the old border wall along the US-Mexico border.Dozens of companies are partnering with US Customs and Border Protection to implement a new generation of surveillance technology along the US-Mexico border, according to federal procurement records.
Those companies include longstanding defense contractors as well as newer Silicon Valley startups funded by the likes of Bill Gates and Andreessen Horowitz. While many of the companies already have contracts with US border patrol, they've also filed hundreds of applications to test out new, experimental surveillance technology along the border.The US government and private contractors aren't just building a brick-and-mortar wall along the US-Mexico border — Silicon Valley-backed tech startups are also rolling out surveillance technology to build a "virtual fence" along the border.
The technologies, the companies have said, are designed to help border patrol agents spot and apprehend people entering the country illegally, as well as identify drug smuggling.
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