Deaths mount within view of border cameras near San Diego

Graciela Gómez Hernández crossed from Tijuana into Southern California on Sept. 14, 2025, hoping to work and support her three children and parents in southern Mexico. Within hours, the 30-year-old was lost, exhausted and sending WhatsApp messages to her family. Her remains were found weeks later about one mile from a General Dynamics surveillance tower whose cameras can track targets 5 to 7 miles away.

The Otay Mountain Wilderness is blanketed by towers, trail cameras, underground movement detectors, radar, infrared sensors, drones and other systems. More than 120 surveillance towers stand along the California border, and newer AI-equipped towers are designed to identify moving targets on their own. Yet an analysis counted at least 138 migrant deaths in the past four years within range of border cameras, with more than half in places where terrain likely did not block a clear view.

Officials and contractors have promoted the technology as a way to improve border control and save lives, but key agencies and vendors did not answer questions about whether towers saw Gómez Hernández or how cameras are used during emergencies. Advocates and search teams say surveillance can push migrants onto longer, hotter and more dangerous routes, while limited responses leave people in distress without help.