Permanent Structure Being Considered To Help With Border Control

A mobile surveillance tower sits on top of a hill east of Nogales, AZ, manned by a Border Patrol agent who keeps a watch on the border fence below. Currently, the tower sits in the bed of a pickup truck but it may be replaced with a permanent tower.

Curt Prendergrast of the Nogales International reported that, “In order to make that a reality, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seizing small pieces of land east of Nogales, spawning frustration among the owners of the seized land that stretches like a snake from the end of Royal Road into the river valley.”

Residents in this area aren’t please with the DHS’s decision to seize private land and this isn’t the first time that they have done this. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security sued nine landowners to gain access to portions of their land that they found necessary to construct the border fence. The tower will potentially be built on the highest points of the Carmencita Ranch, so it will be visible anywhere on the property  The owner of the ranch, Tony Sedgwick, believes this will deter developers from buying the land.