Today’s newsletter is presented by MTS.
Good morning, San Diego ☀️
Here’s what we have for you today:
- Chicano Park on the Bay will be the new name of Barrio Logan’s former César E. Chávez Park. The Port will make it official Wednesday.
- The Ocean Beach Library is getting a major facelift. You’ll have to wait until summer 2028 to see the results.
- And shoutout to reader Sue, who correctly guessed yesterday’s “Step back in time” question. Scroll to the bottom to see if you got it correct too.
Tessa Balc
Audience engagement producer
Top story
She died at the San Diego border. A surveillance camera was in plain sight
Every year, many people who attempt to cross the border near San Diego die. Some die in falls or accidents, others die of environmental exposure. Many, presumably, die alone.
Graciela Gómez Hernández died crossing the border last year. It was a journey she took alone. Her body was found close to a Border Patrol surveillance tower. Lillian Perlmutter, our immigration reporter, found that Gómez Hernández died in clear view of the tower’s high-powered camera.
It turns out this isn’t a unique case.
A Times of San Diego analysis found at least 138 migrants died within range of a surveillance camera in California in the past four years.
We teamed up with MIT Technology Review on this investigation. According to their analysis, more than half of these remains were found in a spot where a camera would have a clear view of a person, without terrain blocking the line of sight. The others fell in blind spots — despite towers being close by. And Perlmutter’s reporting found that even when terrain or tree cover blocks a tower’s view, other devices may pick up a person’s trail.
The tower that was a mile away from Gómez Hernández when she died is an older model that can track targets five to seven miles away. A newer style of towers has a shorter range, but works with AI technology, so agents don’t need to monitor the video. The artificial intelligence is supposed to distinguish border-crossers from other people and animals.
Officials and federal contractors both say it: These towers excel at tracking passing migrants.
The AI towers have “autonomously identified hundreds of thousands of border crossings,” the manufacturer said this year.
The prevalence of deaths near these surveillance towers can take us down two possible roads: either the cameras were unable to track these migrants in distress, or the system did spot these people and offered no response. Neither the manufacturers of this technology nor Border Patrol responded to our inquiries about that.
About to head into work and need a podcast for the drive? Find the audio version at the top of the article. Prefer to watch a video? We’ve got you covered here.
Times of San Diego thanks our corporate sponsors. Find out more about sponsorships and advertising opportunities here.
Stories you should know about
📸 The U.S. spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die? Officials have credited wide-ranging surveillance tech lining the border, from towers retrofitted with AI cameras to seismic sensors, with saving lives. But, an MIT Technology Review investigation has found that deaths caught on camera are startlingly common.
🏳️🌈 La Mesa is throwing its first Pride event, coming in 2027: The inaugural event received $15,000 from the city’s Village Enhancement Fund, which pays for village programming that supports parking revenue and small businesses. The event will be run by a La Mesan who serves as the entertainment director for Orange County Pride.
🚗 A much-needed lift — Jewish Family Service’s Rides and Smiles is a saving grace: We could all use a bit more face-to-face connection. Rides and Smiles provides rides, many of which are social visits, for older adults. Right now there is a waiting list for the service of more than 300 people countywide.
What else we’re reading
🏡 Requirements soon will change for a rental subsidy that San Diego County provides to many low-income seniors. The original recipients are set to be cut off. (Union-Tribune)
🚨 The Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector is the recipient of nearly $30 million, set aside in the last year’s federal funding bill, to create a vehicle facility at the only station in the sector without one. . (Voice of San Diego)
Times of San Diego thanks our corporate sponsors. Find out more about sponsorships and advertising opportunities here.
Step back in time…
This is a photo of First National Bank located in Allied Gardens. Did you guess correct? Want to read more, check out this article.
