A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program
A congressional representative just proposed killing America’s border tower program
一位国会众议员提议终止美国的边境塔项目
Delia Ramirez, a Democratic US representative from Illinois, has announced a plan to introduce new legislation to terminate the surveillance tower program along the US southern border. 来自伊利诺伊州的民主党籍美国众议员迪莉娅·拉米雷斯（Delia Ramirez）宣布了一项计划，将提出一项新立法，旨在终止美国南部边境的监控塔项目。
The announcement comes just days after publication of an MIT Technology Review investigation, “Dying on Camera,” in which we looked at deaths along the border that took place close to one or more of these towers. MIT Technology Review found that nearly one in four deaths we analyzed between 2015 and early 2026 occurred within their advertised range. We also showed that the Department of Homeland Security does not keep track of these deaths or other metrics on the towers’ success or failure. 这一声明发布于《麻省理工科技评论》的调查报道《镜头下的死亡》（Dying on Camera）发表几天之后。在该报道中，我们调查了发生在这些监控塔附近的一系列边境死亡事件。《麻省理工科技评论》发现，在 2015 年至 2026 年初期间，我们分析的死亡案例中，近四分之一发生在这些监控塔的覆盖范围内。我们还指出，美国国土安全部并未追踪这些死亡事件，也没有记录关于这些监控塔成败的其他指标。
Ramirez, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee, cited 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’t work.” 身为国土安全委员会成员的拉米雷斯引用了《麻省理工科技评论》的报道，称“2015 年至 2026 年间，有近 1100 人死于价值十亿美元的监控塔系统覆盖范围内”，并补充道：“我们花费十亿美元建造的这些塔根本不起作用。”
The legislation, the Reimagining Safety Act, was developed in consultation with community groups and local and state representatives. The advocacy organizations Just Futures Law, which focuses on immigrant rights and racial justice, and Mijente, which describes itself as a “vehicle for building independent Latinx political power,” helped shape the calls to terminate the border towers program, following a joint report they put out earlier this year on the technology used by ICE. 这项名为《重构安全法案》（Reimagining Safety Act）的立法是在咨询了社区团体以及地方和州代表后制定的。倡导组织“公正未来法”（Just Futures Law，专注于移民权利和种族正义）和“Mijente”（自称为“建立独立拉丁裔政治力量的载体”）在今年早些时候发布了一份关于美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）所用技术的联合报告后，协助推动了终止边境塔项目的呼声。
The legislation is intended to be part of a broader proposal to replace the Department of Homeland Security with a new Department of Community Safety while moving CISA, FEMA, TSA, and customs functions to other existing federal agencies. Her office has yet to release the text of the proposed legislation, saying that it will come in the next few weeks. 该立法旨在作为一项更广泛提案的一部分，即用一个新的“社区安全部”取代国土安全部，同时将网络安全与基础设施安全局（CISA）、联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）、运输安全管理局（TSA）以及海关职能转移到其他现有的联邦机构。她的办公室尚未发布该拟议立法的文本，称将在未来几周内公布。
There has been growing public support for abolishing ICE in the wake of the second Trump administration’s highly visible enforcement operations across American cities, the buildout of its detention apparatus, and shootings by ICE and CBP agents. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a delivery driver, was shot in the back by an ICE agent just last weekend in Austin, Texas. 在特朗普第二任政府于美国各大城市开展高调执法行动、扩建拘留设施，以及 ICE 和海关及边境保护局（CBP）特工发生枪击事件后，公众要求废除 ICE 的呼声日益高涨。就在上周末，得克萨斯州奥斯汀市的一名送货司机威尔伯·拉斐尔·加塞斯·佩雷斯（Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez）被一名 ICE 特工从背后射杀。
But for Ramirez, abolishing just ICE is not enough. At a press conference held in Chicago on Wednesday, Ramirez said, “There’s no question that DHS has to be dismantled. We need to provide them a road map in how we do it,” Ramirez said. 但对拉米雷斯而言，仅仅废除 ICE 是不够的。在周三于芝加哥举行的新闻发布会上，拉米雷斯表示：“毫无疑问，国土安全部必须被拆除。我们需要为他们提供一个如何实现这一目标的路线图。”
It will not be the first time that a bill to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security has been introduced, but previous proposals have not gone very far. This proposal will also face a steep uphill battle in Congress, where even some Democrats favor reforming rather than outright dismantling the organization. 这并非首次提出拆除国土安全部的法案，但之前的提案均未取得实质性进展。该提案在国会也将面临严峻挑战，因为即使是一些民主党人也倾向于改革而非彻底拆除该机构。
Ramirez, however, sits on both the House committee that oversees the department, and is the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee. “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. 然而，拉米雷斯不仅是监督该部门的众议院委员会成员，还是国土安全委员会网络安全小组委员会的资深成员。拉米雷斯说：“我们正在限制国家监控，控制非法的数据滥用，并遏制军事化的执法。我们正在开启建立一个独立的民事移民系统的进程。”
DHS and CBP did not offer an immediate response for comment. 国土安全部和海关及边境保护局未立即对此置评。