A US representative from Illinois who sits on the Democratic side has said she intends to put forward new legislation designed to bring the surveillance tower program on the southern border to an end. This announcement follows closely on the heels of an MIT Technology Review report that found more than 1,050 fatalities occurred inside the stated reach of those towers.
On Wednesday, Delia Ramirez made the announcement at a press conference held in Chicago, where she pointed to MIT Technology Review’s reporting that nearly “1,100 people have died within range of a billion-dollar surveillance tower system between 2015 and 2026,” adding, “The towers that we have paid a billion dollars to just don’ as the basis for her remarks.
The MIT Technology Review Investigation
The Department of Homeland Security does not track metrics on the towers’ success or failure, including deaths, so there is no official record of how many people have died. MIT Technology Review’s “Dying on Camera” investigation found that nearly one in four deaths analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 occurred within the advertised range for the towers’ performance.
The study examined fatalities logged close to one or more of the towers, with its examination covering the period from 2015 into early 2026. The probe found that roughly a quarter of all deaths lay within the territory the towers claimed to cover.
The Numbers Behind the Bill
| Metric | Reported Figures |
|---|---|
| Deaths within towers’ advertised range | Over 1,050 |
| Years covered by investigation | 2015–early 2026 |
| Percentage of deaths occurring within range | Nearly one in four |
| Cost of the tower system | A billion dollars |
The Shootings That Pushed the Debate Forward
Public backing for getting rid of ICE has grown alongside the second Trump administration’s enforcement operations, the expansion of its detention system, and the shootings carried out by ICE and CBP agents. The most recent incident came just last weekend, when Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a delivery driver, was shot in the back by an ICE agent in Austin, Texas.
The ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee. At the press conference, she said, “There’, who also sits on the House panel that oversees the department, says there is no question that DHS has to be torn apart. She argues that Congress should lay out a path for how that demolition will proceed.
“We’re limiting state surveillance, we’re reigning unlawful abuses of data and curbing the militarized enforcement. We’re beginning the process of establishing a separate civil immigration system,” Ramirez said.
The Legislation’s Next Steps
The office has declined to make the text of the proposed legislation public so far, instead saying it will be released in the coming weeks. Neither DHS nor CBP responded right away when asked for comment.
Ramirez’s proposal arrives at a time when the ICE shooting has once again placed the agency’s methods under scrutiny. The announcement of a major overhaul of federal law enforcement comes at precisely this juncture, making the timing itself noteworthy.
Who Backed the Proposal
The Reimagining Safety Act came together after talks with community groups and local and state representatives, with advocacy organizations Just Futures Law and Mijente helping guide the effort to put an end to the border towers program.
Both groups work toward immigrant rights and racial justice. Mijente describes itself as a “vehicle for building independent Latinx political power.” They collaborated on a report about the technology employed by ICE, which was released earlier this year.
What the Legislation Would Do
This legislation aims to end two distinct programs. It seeks to shut down the surveillance tower initiative first. The second goal is far larger: dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and placing its component agencies under other jurisdictions.
A larger plan would shift duties from CISA, FEMA, TSA, and customs to other federal offices already in existence. That same proposal would establish a new Department of Community Safety to take over what the old agency used to handle.
The proposal rests on the MIT Technology Review investigation’s findings. The reported deaths and the DHS metric gap supply the factual underpinning for the suggested course of action.
Ramirez has said plainly what she thinks about the towers: they are a billion-dollar investment that does not work. She has not yet explained how the larger plan to remake DHS would be put into motion.
The conversation about ICE, border protection, and national policing keeps changing shape.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs Representative Delia Ramirez’s push to end the surveillance tower program on the southern border and is against the continued funding of that billion-dollar system. The MIT Technology Review investigation found more than 1,050 fatalities occurred inside the stated reach of those towers, and the Department of Homeland Security does not track metrics on the towers’ success or failure, including deaths.
That gap in reporting supports the proposed action, but the investigation is described as an “investigation” without independent verification. The paper supports citizens and local groups pushing back against mass tracking by governments and the companies that sell to them, and it is against camera networks, data dragnets and the vendors lobbying to keep them.
What the reader should watch for is whether the legislation actually limits state surveillance and protects individuals from unlawful abuses of data, rather than simply shifting duties among federal offices. The paper wants a smaller, less powerful DHS, not a reorganized one.
Source material: “A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program,” MIT Technology Review.
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