Roundtables: The Deadly Failures of the Virtual Border Wall
Watch a subscriber-only conversation examining the failures of border surveillance technology.
By MIT Technology Review | September 22, 2026
Overview
Over the past 25 years, the United States has spent billions of dollars building a "virtual wall" of surveillance towers along its southern border, promising they would help detect and apprehend border crossers and save lives. But a groundbreaking investigation by MIT Technology Review has documented more than a thousand people who moved through areas watched by these towers without being reached or apprehendedβand who ultimately died there. Some were even under the watch of newly installed AI-powered towers designed to spot people automatically.
Our findings reveal a humanitarian crisis more visible than previously known, and repeated failures of the virtual wall's basic security promise. Join MIT Technology Review editors and reporters for a conversation examining the failures of border surveillance technology and uncovering the stories of the people who die in the borderlands.
Speakers
[Registration details and speaker information available to subscribers.]
This event is available only for MIT Technology Review subscribers.
Register Now
[Register for the roundtable discussion]