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CBP Deploys Surveillance Blimp Over Nogales, Arizona

Loaded on Oct. 15, 2022 by Anthony Accurso published in Criminal Legal News November, 2022, page 41
Location: Arizona.

by Anthony W. Accurso

Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) launched its 17th surveillance blimp in June 2022, this time in a stationary location over Nogales, Arizona.

CBP put out a press release about the blimp the day before it was launched, though it did not directly notify the residents of Nogales or consult with city officials on the launch.

The blimp is tethered about a quarter mile from a residential neighborhood and about a mile from the border. It can hover as high as 3,000 feet off the ground, collecting data all day and night.

“I think it’s evidence of a kind of growing police state along the border,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway. “It just seems weird and dystopian to have that kind of surveillance platform right in the middle of the city.”

CBP has refused to say what kind of sensors or other equipment are on the blimp or where those sensors are pointing, instead offering vague references to “border activity.”

Locals are understandably concerned about their privacy now that the agency has launched a panopticon in their backyard. Criminal Legal News has previously reported on the harmful psychological effects of being subject to constant surveillance.

Other residents are skeptical about how much additional benefit the blimp can provide given how heavily monitored the area currently is, with a combination of local, state, and federal law enforcement currently cooperating on border patrol.

Researchers have recently published data showing that such surveillance merely “shift[s] migration routes into much more difficult and remote terrain” and that “the expansion of border surveillance technologies has been accompanied by an increased death rate among migrants crossing the border.”

Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), whose district includes Nogales, has openly said that we “urgently need transparency and oversight with these invasive border surveillance technologies.” 

Source: reason.com

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More from this issue:

  1. Aversion to Error: Americans View Wrongful Acquittals and Wrongful Convictions to Be Errors of Equal Magnitude, by Casey Bastian
  2. The Battle Against CSAM: The Front Line of the Government’s War on the Fourth Amendment, by Anthony Accurso
  3. Illinois Supreme Court Announces Krankel’s Pro Se Posttrial IAC Procedure Applies to Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings and Clarifies That Krankel Procedure Applies to Both Appointed and Retained Counsel, by Mark Wilson
  4. Federal Habeas Corpus: Obtaining Habeas Relief After a Guilty Plea, by Dale Chappell
  5. Washington Supreme Court Clarifies Burden of Production Standard for Entrapment to Be Entitled to Jury Instruction, by Matthew Clarke
  6. Seventh Circuit: Indiana Statute on Dealing Methamphetamine Facially Overbroad and Does Not Qualify as Aggravated Felony for Immigration Purposes, by Jacob Barrett
  7. Sixth Circuit: Conspiracy to Commit Hobbs Act Robbery and Attempted Hobbs Act Robbery Are Not Qualifying Predicates to Sustain § 924(j) Conviction, by Douglas Ankney
  8. Tenth Circuit Rules Trooper’s Hunches Insufficient to Prolong Traffic Stop, Explains ‘Rodriguez Moment,’ and Suppresses Evidence Obtained as Result of Unlawful Seizure, by Anthony Accurso
  9. California Court of Appeal: Statute Allowing Noncitizens to Vacate Convictions Due to Failure to Understand Adverse Immigration Consequences Applies Retroactively to Convictions Resulting From Trials That Are Not Yet Final, by Harold Hempstead
  10. Digital Privacy and Law After Dobbs, by Anthony Accurso
  11. Third Circuit Announces Conspiracy to Commit ‘Crime of Violence’ Not ‘Crime of Violence’ for Purposes of Sentencing Enhancement Under Guideline § 2K2.1(a)(4), by Douglas Ankney
  12. Seventh Circuit: Fugitive’s Cell Phone Tracked to Apartment Building Does Not Establish Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity for Warrantless Seizure and Search of All Occupants and Apartments in Building, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Eleventh Circuit Reverses Denial of First Step Act Relief Where District Court Construed Letter Asking About Eligibility To Be Motion Requesting Relief, by Douglas Ankney
  14. Fourth Circuit: Convictions Identified in PSR but Not Relied Upon as Predicates for ACCA Enhancement at Sentencing Cannot Be Substituted for Subsequently Disqualified Original Predicate Convictions on Collateral Review, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Chicago’s Traffic Camera Program: Racial and Income Disparities for Black and Hispanic Drivers, by Harold Hempstead
  16. Utah Supreme Court Explains Community Caretaker Exception to Warrant Requirement and Grants Motion to Suppress of Defendant Convicted of DUI Found Sleeping in Parked Car at 24-Hour Restaurant, by Douglas Ankney
  17. Fifth Circuit Orders Limited Remand Where District Court’s Denial of First Step Act Relief Unclear, by Douglas Ankney
  18. Studies Place ‘Rationality’ of Residential Restrictions in Doubt, by Jayson Hawkins
  19. Fourth Circuit: Plea Agreement Barred Prosecution of Dismissed Charges After Successfully Appealing Conviction, by David Reutter
  20. Book Review: Manufacturing Criminals: Fourth Amendment Decay in the Electronic Age, by Anthony Accurso
  21. Oregon Supreme Court: State Sentencing Guidelines Control Repeat Sex Offender Downward Departure Sentences, by Mark Wilson
  22. California Court of Appeal Explains ‘Automobile Exception’ and ‘Plain-View Seizure’ Doctrines, Rules Warrantless Seizure of Defendant’s Vehicle Parked on Friend’s Property Violates Fourth Amendment, by Anthony Accurso
  23. CBP Deploys Surveillance Blimp Over Nogales, Arizona, by Anthony Accurso
  24. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Rehaif Announced New Rule of Substantive Law and Applies Retroactively to Initial § 2255 Motions, by David Reutter
  25. Drones Gaining Popularity as a Law Enforcement Tool, by Casey Bastian
  26. Citizen Programs Have Positive Impact for Crisis Calls, Resulting in Fewer Arrests and Hospitalizations for Mental Health Crisis Calls, by David Reutter
  27. Californians Now Have Say in Whether Their Local Police Force Looks Like a Military Outpost, by Douglas Ankney
  28. Common Sense Changes Can Fix the Cracks in Forensic Science’s Foundation, by Jacob Barrett
  29. Daniel Taylor Was Innocent. He Spent Decades in Prison Trying to Fix the State’s Mistake., by Steve Mills
  30. News in Brief
  31. 93-Year-Old Woman Owed $2,300 in Tax Debt so Government Sold Her $40,000 Home and Kept all Proceeds, by Ashleigh Dye

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