NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN) — Locals and visitors can see it floating above Nogales. Customs and Border Protection’s new eye in the sky near the U.S.-Mexico border is known as the ‘Aerostat.’
The tethered ballon that resembles a blimp first went up on June 20. It’s raised and reeled in from a docking platform on a hillside roughly one mile north of the border.
What is an aerostat?
According to a CBP release, the aerostat is manned 24/7, providing “continuous aerial surveillance of the border.” It uses day and night cameras, flying less than 3,000 feet above the ground. It is dependent on good weather in order to fly.
The technology has been used along sections of the border since 2013.
More specifically, CBP identifies the one in Nogales as a Tactical Aerostat System (TAS) “primarily designed for border surveillance in much the same respect as the Border Patrol’s Remote Video Surveillance System towers along the border.”
CBP says there are currently 11 aerostat surveillance systems on the southwest border—most of them in South Texas.
Similar aerostat technology has flown over Cochise County, but that was instead an example of a radar-based aerostat designed to detect low-flying aircraft. That aerostat is known as a Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS), which CBP says “due to its size and altitude, it can stay aloft for much longer periods of time.”
Privacy concerns
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway says local leaders and law enforcement got no advanced warning that the aerostat was going up… and that he still hasn’t been briefed on it by CBP.
“It just appeared one day out of my window of the Sheriff’s Office,” he said. “It was a total surprise, this—what I call the ‘spy blimp.’"
“I worry about the implications of the loss of privacy, like looking into residential communities and spying on what we’re doing.”
Last month, KGUN9 asked CBP Tucson Sector’s Chief Patrol Agent, John Modlin, about those concerns.
“I absolutely appreciate that,” he said. “The reality is that that aerostat and its view is built to look into the border region. That’s what we’re watching. We’re watching the border region. We’re not interested in what’s going on in someone’s yard in the Nogales area or what someone’s doing.”
Modlin sees this is as a natural next step in protecting the border against migrant and smuggler crossings.
“Tucson Sector for years has probably had the greatest situational awareness of any of the sectors on the Southwest border because of how much technology we do have,” he said. There are a lot of camera towers out there, there’s a lot of sensors out there, there’s a lot of equipment.
“[The aerostat] is just built to give us more situational awareness. It’s taking the place of, prior to that, on that very same location, daily, there was one of the scope trucks there, so a truck with the big scope on it. The cameras that can see miles in each direction. So this is just a better way to sort of look straight down. Because so much of the terrain out there masks what’s going on.”
But Hathaway calls it a “militarization of the border” and says the federal government isn’t transparent or accountable to the people who live near the border.
“As an American, I think we have that fundamental right to be private and secure in our private lives,” said Hathaway. “And this is just another ‘Big Brother’ intrusion into our lives… I’m offended by it personally. I think it’s disgusting. And I hope the community doesn’t get used to it and just think it’s one more fixture of the growing police state along the border.”
No matter how people view it, the aerostat fleet appears to be growing. CBP says it’s planning to launch another near Sasabe later this fiscal year.
Local/Federal Disconnect
Hathaway and others in Santa Cruz County say privacy is not their only concern; they feel the visual reminder in the sky also perpetuates a stereotype that the county is unsafe, crime-ridden or being overrun by migrants.
There is also a feeling of tension after the federal government implemented a surveillance tactic without any input from or warning for those in the community.
Multiple sources compared this aerostat launch to a conflict in 2019, when U.S. troops installed concertina wire on the border wall near Nogales without any warning.
CBP did not respond to a question from KGUN about why there was no briefing for local officials before or after the aerostat launch.
Where does the footage go?
Hathaway raised a question about where the footage from aerostat recordings is stored, and who has access to the footage.
CBP tells KGUN the aerostat video is archived in 30-day cycles, automatically erased as a new recording happens on Day 31.
As for footage needed in potential prosecutorial cases, CBP responded with the following:
As with any other of our technologies, if a recording is needed for prosecutorial purposes it is requested by Tucson Sector and CBP’s Office of Chief Counsel and a video clip (date/time) of incident is recorded on a DVD. Those are archived as part of a case/investigation.
Other law enforcement agencies may request, through proper channels, a recording of incident if said agency has an ongoing investigation with the same criteria, date time of encounter/arrest and only that would be released. There is reciprocity with other CBP components, but all other agencies would require the release of information policies/procedures necessary for release of video.
——-
Ryan Fish is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9 and comes to the Sonoran Desert from California’s Central Coast after working as a reporter, sports anchor and weather forecaster in Santa Barbara. Ryan grew up in the Chicago suburbs, frequently visiting family in Tucson. Share your story ideas and important issues with Ryan by emailing ryan.fish@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.