ai-powered border surveillance can't prevent migrant deaths

in september 2025, graciela gómez hernández, a 30-year-old migrant, crossed the border from tijuana into southern california's otay mountain wilderness. she sent voice messages to her family as she walked, but soon became lost. despite being in a heavily surveilled area, with a general dynamics surveillance tower nearby equipped with ai-powered electro-optical and infrared cameras, gómez hernández died alone. her body was not collected until two weeks later. this incident highlights the failure of ai-powered border surveillance technology to prevent migrant deaths, which have persisted in the area despite the proliferation of such systems.