Tag: border patrol

LEXISNEXIS SOLD POWERFUL SPY TOOLS TO U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

THE POPULAR DATA broker LexisNexis began selling face recognition services and personal location data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection late last year, according to contract documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

According to the documents, obtained by the advocacy group Just Futures Law and shared with The Intercept, LexisNexis Risk Solutions began selling surveillance tools to the border enforcement agency in December 2022. The $15.9 million contract includes a broad menu of powerful tools for locating individuals throughout the United States using a vast array of personal data, much of it obtained and used without judicial oversight.

Through LexisNexis, CBP investigators gained a convenient place to centralize, analyze, and search various databases containing enormous volumes of intimate personal information, both public and proprietary.

“This contract is mass surveillance in hyperdrive,” Julie Mao, an attorney and co-founder of Just Futures Law, told The Intercept. “It’s frightening that a rogue agency such as CBP has access to so many powerful technologies at the click of the button. Unfortunately, this is what LexisNexis appears now to be selling to thousands of police forces across the country. It’s now become a one-stop shop for accessing a range of invasive surveillance tools.”

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UAP Documents and Videos Surface from U.S. Customs and Border Protection

In a new development concerning Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), a batch of documents and videos has emerged from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The unexpected find came to light thanks to X user “Dr.Disclosure89 (@Docneuroeo)”, who alerted The Black Vault about this discovery.

As of now, the origins of this release remain a mystery. There are two main possibilities: either CBP took the initiative to proactively disclose these materials to the public, or they were released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Black Vault currently has multiple FOIA cases with CBP. Some of these requests were transferred to other agencies, while others remain open with CBP.

To get to the bottom of this, The Black Vault reached out to CBP for clarification. But after navigating an intricate phone menu system, no representatives were available to provide a comment or an explanation about the nature of the release.

While the actual context and background of the released documents and videos remain unclear, they offer a glimpse at some new cases, though much of the resolution seems to be on the low side. The Black Vault will also be seeking higher resolution versions of the videos, along with higher resolution scans of the documents.

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How Cartels Infiltrate The Border Patrol

Goat Canyon is a dry valley of crystalline rocks in the east of San Diego county named after the desert bighorns that roam. It was the perfect spot, Border Patrol agent Noe Lopez told his contact, to move dope through. “Honestly, the thing is that there aren’t—there aren’t any cameras,” Lopez said. “Nothing, nothing, nothing.”

Lopez went himself to the store and purchased three backpacks for the smugglers to use. On the first night, he collected one at the border fence with a glint of crystal meth inside. He stashed it in his Border Patrol truck, drove to base, switched it to his private car and then handed it to his connect in a parking lot in exchange for three grand in cash.

The second night he grabbed a bag with seven kilo bricks with the markings of cocaine. His source gave him $7,000 but said the smugglers were uneasy about going over the fence. Lopez said there was nothing to worry about. “If I’m saying, ‘cross now,’ that means that I am taking the responsibility for them to cross.”

But Lopez never made it to the third drop. He was arrested and charged with attempted cocaine and meth trafficking. The source, he discovered, was a DEA informant who had him on tape and the drugs were fake. He plead guilty and got seventy months in prison in 2017.

It was no freak case. In 2023, a judge sentenced agent Oberlin Cortez Peña for waving cars of cocaine through a checkpoint north of McAllen, Texas. In 2014, customs agent Lorne “Hammer” Jones got seven years for letting trucks of dope through San Ysidro. And that’s the tip of the iceberg.

Since the Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002, incorporating Customs and Border Protection, well over a hundred agents and officers have been convicted of trafficking dope or running undocumented migrants. This usually means working with cartels and their affiliates who control drug and human smuggling over the border.

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Tohono O’odham man shot and killed by border patrol

A well respected member of the Tohono O’odham community has been gunned down by Border Patrol agents.

The man’s family is outraged and wants answers.

According to Customs and Border Protection U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Ajo Station were involved in a shooting that resulted in the death of a man.

A family member says the man was respected and loved.

One family who asked not to be identified, fought back tears as she told News 4 Tucson,

“I keep hearing the gunshots and I can’t get over it…Its very sad just to know who they were shooting at you know.”

She told News 4 Tucson she wanted people to know what happened to their loved one, Raymond Mattia.

According to another family member who also asked not to be identified, Mattia was shot and killed by Border patrol agents Thursday night. She said Mattia had called Border Patrol.

“He called to request for assistance because there were multiple illegal immigrants who had trespassed into his yard and he wanted assistance getting them out of his property.”

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Biden Admin Hands Out Nonsensical ‘Black Resistance’ Flyers To BORDER PATROL Agents

Border Patrol agents reacted with anger after the Biden Administration distributed random flyers titled ‘Black resistance’ and held ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ events while the southern border remains wide open.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that the flyers were disseminated among the Customs and Border Protection Agency, featuring a word cloud of names and phrases including #BlackPower, #BlackLivesMatter, George Floyd, Maxine Waters, and Colin Kaepernick.

The poster also contains generic terms like ‘Jazz’ and ‘Hip Hop’.

The reason given for the flyers is ‘Black History Month’.

One border patrol agent told the Beacon “BLM hates us, so does Maxine Waters,” adding “Kaepernick hates us. They’re anti-police advocates against the nation’s largest police agency.”

‘Black Resistance’ events have also been observed by the CBP.

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Customs to Expand License Plate Reading Program Nationwide

The Customs and Border Protection agency has been collecting vehicle information at the border using license plate readers for years. Now, the agency will begin incorporating third-party license plate reader data collected from local governments, law enforcement and the private sector and maintained by a commercial vendor.

A privacy impact assessment published July 7 outlines the agency’s plan to incorporate datasets maintained by third-party vendors as part of its investigations. The latest update is the first since December 2017, when CBP authorized the use of license plate readers for data collection.

“To meet its vast mission requirements, CBP relies on a variety of law enforcement tools and techniques for law enforcement and border security,” the PIA states. “One such tool is license plate reader (LPR) technology, which consists of high-speed cameras and related equipment mounted on vehicles or in fixed locations that automatically and without direct human control locate, focus on, and photograph license plates and vehicles that come into range of the device.”

Each data collection—or “read”—gathers the vehicle’s license plate number; an image of the vehicle, including make and model; where it is registered; the location and owner of the camera; and any associated location information, including GPS coordinates. “LPR technology may also capture—within the image—the environment surrounding a vehicle, which may include drivers and passengers,” the impact assessment notes.

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