Border Monitoring and Surveillance

The Border Monitoring and Surveillance category focuses on the so-called “smart” or “virtual” border wall, i.e. the monitoring and surveillance apparatus that can replace physical barriers in preventing people from crossing the border. This includes companies that provide the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with:

  • Border patrol aircraft and ground vehicles, both manned and unmanned, including planes, drones, blimps, all-terrain vehicles, and motorcycles.
  • Border surveillance towers, both fixed and mobile, and the myriad cameras, imaging systems, and other sensors installed on them.
  • Surveillance equipment installed at border crossings, such as vehicle and license plate readers, as well as devices collecting people’s biometrics including fingerprints, facial images, DNA, etc.
  • Electronic databases and systems that store and analyze these data, as well as the servers that host them.

For more information on this industry, see here.

The list of companies involved in this sector
Select private companies are listed below publicly-traded companies.
(!) symbol means this company is on our divestment list
Publicly-Traded Companies
Ireland

An Irish multinational professional services firm that provides technical and planning support to CBP and ICE.

A US-based military contractor whose drones are used to surveil the US–Mexico border.

A Dutch multinational military and aerospace company whose helicopters are used to monitor the US–Mexico border.

Google’s parent company. It provides cloud computing services and other technologies to the Israeli and US militaries, US immigration authorities, and electronic monitoring companies.

USA

A US-based telecommunications company that provides communications services to US immigration authorities.

USA

A US-based software company that provides biometric systems to US immigration authorities for border monitoring and surveillance.

A US manufacturer of less-lethal weapons and surveillance technology, which are used by the Israeli military and police against Palestinian civilians and by police, prison, immigration, and military agencies in the US and worldwide.

A US-based producer of high-end computing and industrial products that provides Mobile Video Surveillance Systems (MVSS) to US immigration authorities for monitoring the US–Mexico border.

A US government IT contractor, which developed cloud analytics services for US immigration authorities to track and target immigrants.

A US-based government contractor that provides computer and IT services to US immigration authorities and other federal agencies.

The owner of Safariland and Defense Technology, which manufacture tear gas and other crowd control weapons that are used by Israeli police and military authorities against Palestinians and by immigration, prison, and law enforcement agencies in the US and around the world.

An Israeli digital intelligence firm that supplies police, prison, and immigration authorities, as well as repressive regimes around the world, with hacking technologies.

A US-based producer of surveillance tools that provides video management systems for monitoring prisons, jails, and the U.S.–Mexico border.

A manufacturer of firearms and ammunition for military, law enforcement, and commercial markets in Israel, the U.S., and around the world.

Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Its weapons are routinely used in war crimes against Palestinians and its surveillance systems are used in Palestine and along the U.S.–Mexico border.

A US-based vehicle manufacturer that provides commercial and specialized vehicles to Israeli occupation authorities and US police and immigration agencies.

The fifth-largest military contractor in the world. It manufactures weapons that are used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technology that is used to monitor and surveil the U.S.–Mexico border and immigrant communities.

A US automaker whose engines power vehicles used by the Israeli military and whose trucks have been used by Israeli military and police forces to surveil Palestinians and for other occupation-related purposes. It supplies vehicles to US police, prison, and immigration authorities.

A Japanese vehicle manufacturer that provides vehicles to US Customs and Border Protection.

A US-based military IT contractor that provides imaging technologies and biometric systems to US immigration authorities for border monitoring and surveillance.

The world’s largest military company. It manufactures weapons that are routinely used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and reconnaissance aircraft that are used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US–Mexico border.

A Swedish data extraction firm that provides digital forensics tools to law enforcement and immigration authorities.

A US-based communications and surveillance company. Its surveillance products are used in US prisons, along the US–Mexico border, and by US police departments. Its equipment is installed in illegal Israeli settlements and along the separation wall in the occupied West Bank and is used by the Israeli military, police, and prison service.

The world’s third-largest military company. It manufactures weapons that are used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and surveillance technologies used by US immigration authorities to monitor the US–Mexico border.

A US-based manufacturer of security and inspection systems, which are used at US border checkpoints and Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied Palestinian territory.

United States

A US-based vehicle manufacturer that provides all-terrain vehicles, utility task vehicles, and snowmobiles to US immigration authorities.

The world's second-largest military company, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies. It makes missiles, bombs, components for fighter jets, and other weapon systems used by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians. Its surveillance technology is also used to monitor the U.S.–Mexico border.

A US-based cloud computing and AI company whose systems power the Unified Immigration Portal, a database used by US immigration enforcement agencies to monitor and surveil immigrants.

A British engineering company that provides X-ray and surveillance technologies to US immigration authorities for monitoring borders.

A US engineering and IT government contractor that provides CBP with mobile surveillance systems used to monitor the US–Mexico border.

A US-based military contractor, known for its Beechcraft, Bell, Cessna, and Hawker aircraft, some of which are used to monitor the US–Mexico border and by the Israeli military.

A US-based global investment firm. Its subsidiary ManTech International provides IT and surveillance services to US immigration authorities.

A US-based pharmaceutical and biotech company that provides US immigration authorities with equipment for mass DNA testing of detained immigrants and Rapid DNA testing of migrant families at the US–Mexico border.

A Canadian data broker and information services provider whose systems and databases are used by US immigration authorities to target and track immigrants.

A Japanese vehicle manufacturer that provides all-terrain vehicles and watercraft to US Customs and Border Protection.

Private Companies
Massachusetts

Since 2020, Anduril has provided CBP with Autonomous Surveillance Towers (AST) that use artificial intelligence and Google technologies to monitor the US-Mexico border.

Berla, in collaboration with MSAB, makes vehicle forensics kits that CBP uses to extract personal information from cars' infotainment and navigation systems. The system can extract contact lists, messages, pictures, and recent destinations from any synchronized mobile devices.

A biometrics company that has conducted DNA analysis and testing of immigrants since 2014. Since 2019, Bode has provided CBP and ICE with Rapid DNA testing services using Thermo Fisher's RapidHIT ID system.

New York

A surveillance company that mines facial images from websites including social media and uses facial recognition software to create databases for law enforcement and other government agencies. Clearview has sold a subscription to its database to CBP since 2020.

Since 2018, Davenport Aviation has partnered with Airbus to provide CBP with "light enforcement helicopters" for patrolling US borders.

One of the world's largest consulting firms, with multiple large contracts with ICE and CBP, including for optimizing their immigrant detention capabilities and for developing the Unified Immigration Portal (UIP), using Salesforce technology, to facilitate information sharing across DHS agencies.

California

CBP's main contractor for drones to monitor the US-Mexico border. General Atomics has provided at least 10 MQ-9 Predator B drones since 2005, and continues providing "operational and maintenance" at least until 2022.

Georgia

Owned by private equity firm Peak Equity Partners, Grayshift provides its GrayKey system to ICE and CBP for extracting data from cell phones. In 2019, Grayshift partnered with Magnet Forensics to make GrayKey available to more law enforcement.

Since 2014, JDL Digital Systems has provided support and equipment for the Video Evidence Collection and Distribution System (VECADS) used by ICE and CBP. The company develops standalone security cameras as well as video recording and time management equipment for aircraft, drones, and vehicles.

Virginia

A US-based military and government contractor that has provided maintenance and logistical services to Custom and Border Protection’s fleet of aircraft used for surveilling the US–Mexico border. It was acquired by private company Amentum in 2022, bringing it into the private sector.

Nebraska

A communications data analysis company that mines data including phone usage, social media, and internet communications to track people in real time. These data, which Pen-Link has provided to ICE and CBP since at least 2008, is integrated into the Palantir-designed Investigative Case Management (ICM) system.

Virginia

Owned by private equity firm Veritas Capital, Peraton took over Northrop Grumman's contract for DHS' HART biometric database and L3Harris contract for CBP's Tethered Aerostat Radar System (blimps) on the US-Mexico border.

Virginia

Formerly Geospark Analytics, Seerist has provided CBP with its Hyperion software since 2020; the software uses artificial intelligence to automate "risk and threat intelligence gathering and analysis."

Since 2009, Sierra Nevada has modified Textron aircraft into CBP's Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft for monitoring US borders.

A forensics and biometrics company that, since 2019, consults DHS on optimizing its analysis of rapid DNA tests taken from immigrants at the US-Mexico border.

Virginia

Since 2019, Venntel has provided ICE and CBP with its database of people's locations based on mining smartphone app data.

This page was last updated on
25 October 2021