![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But if history could speak, it might temper Biden’s hopes. So like presidents before him he has reached for the smart wall. Biden must appear, simultaneously, tough yet humane. These strategies have managed to both repel his progressive base and underwhelm those who believe he’s too soft on the border. He has half-heartedly fought Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy and, also like Trump, has pressured the Mexican government to deploy its military to catch migrants who cross north through the country to the U.S. So Biden has left in place Title 42, a 1944 public health law that Trump seized upon during the pandemic to turn away asylum seekers. But the majority of voters under Biden now believe the border is in a state of crisis that requires immediate attention. A majority of voters believed Trump’s wall was foolish. Matthew Steckman, chief revenue officer at Anduril Industriesīiden needs to get the border right. “Think of it as the most sophisticated security camera mankind has ever built.” Clyburn wrote approvingly, “can result in immigration and border security practices that advance justice and mercy everywhere.” ![]() Only a smart wall, Democratic House Majority Whip James E. As he publicly campaigned for his “big, beautiful wall,” his administration quietly signed the deal with Anduril. And sometimes the hardware simply succumbed to the punishing sun, wind and rain of the Southwest.ĭespite this record of failure, both Democrats and Republicans have clung to the dream. The software, designed to detect humans, falsely dispatched agents to apprehend grazing cattle. They looked everywhere but down, so migrants and smugglers hid beneath them. Often, these systems ended with laughable results. has sunk billions of dollars into towers 30-feet, even 160-feet tall, towers that are topped with radar, with night vision or thermal vision, and were built by the world’s mightiest defense contractors. Luckey’s last enterprise was a success - he sold Oculus to Facebook for $2 billion - but the history of America’s quest for the smart wall has been, to say the least, underwhelming. “I’m going to make sure that we have border protection,” Biden said last year, “but it’s going to be based on making sure that we use high-tech capacity to deal with it.”Īt the moment, this high-tech capacity will come from Anduril, which has a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to place 200 sentry towers along the border in Texas, New Mexico and California. Tucked between reforms for asylum, for visas, for the Dream Act, was a section titled “Deploying Smart Technology at the Southern Border.” Technology, the bill read, was the only way to “responsibly manage” and provide “situational awareness” on an otherwise vast, remote border. On his first day in office, President Biden released his U.S. This is, at least, the vision Joe Biden is counting on. With a smart wall, migrants who found themselves lost in the deserts and mountains along the border would be spotted, captured and safely deported. It would not only save money by reducing the number of agents needed to patrol the 2,000 miles of unforgiving terrain, it would also save lives. But a smart wall, a line of all-seeing surveillance towers aimed south, promises to seal the border through innovation. Every president since Bill Clinton has chased this technological dream. ![]()
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