Eagle Pass, Texas — Our southern border is currently without a key piece of protection. A blimp used to monitor criminal activity has been down for months.
Texas authorities are blaming officials in Washington for keeping it grounded.But as we investigated we found — the bipartisan effort to return it to the sky.
They are the eyes in the sky, Aerostats, or simply put blimps armed with radars, cameras, and other security equipment.
” Our enemies can see those aerostats along the southern border. They know the efficiency of those systems,” said Richard Booth of CBP Air Marine Operations in a government video.
Eyes that keep watch for law enforcement from 10,000 feet up in the air to see signs of trouble or changes at the US border and beyond.
“It’s very public how effective the radar systems have been,” said Booth.
But now, with a new caravan of thousands of migrants called “Caravana Jesucristo” on its way, this key element of security, tether aerostat, here in our viewing area has been out of commission since May in Maverick County.
Booth says in the video that when they lose a radar system, it is common knowledge. It makes the news and people can see it, and we become vulnerable.
A sentiment supported by Sheriff Tom Schmerber of Maverick County.
“We depend on that. On the other side, in Mexico, the criminal element knows when it’s up.It’s not out there, so we don’t have that extra eye to help us to see what’s coming.” said Schmerber.
So, for this area, the upper hand has been lost in the fight for border safety, according to Schmerber.
From Yuma, Arizona, to Puerto Rico, these blimps are tethered to the ground with a nylon fiber cable, lowered and raised to accomplish their mission.
“We need to keep those things in place. We need to expand the program,” said Booth.
According to federal sources, severe weather with tornado-like winds ripped it from its anchor, allowing the multi-million-dollar resource to deflate. CBP sources tell us the US government does not want to pay to reinflate the eyes in the sky back up over the part of the border closest to the 7th largest city in the US San Antonio.
“The cost again to put this back up is 400K. I think out of a multi-billion-dollar budget, they can find the money to provide surveillance for Eagle Pass,” said Congressman Henry Cuellar.
Cuellar fought to bring Aerostat to South Texas and wants it back in the air, helping to secure the Texas border with Mexico.
“Everybody talks about security. Enough talk. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get the job done,” said the Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security,
According to Air Marine Operations between 2014 and 2020, the aerostats only made up 2 percent of the total radars in the surveillance system… but they accounted for nearly half of all the suspect targets detected each year. Aerostat also tracked 68 percent of all suspected air smuggling flights approaching the southwest border from Mexico.
CBP’s website says each sweep of the radar in the belly of the tethered aerostat “detects all flying aircraft within the balloon’s 200-mile range.”
In July, Fox SA reported that the number of planes sneaking into Texas smuggling migrants has gone up, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In videos shown during the June meeting of DPS’s Public Safety Commission terrain like the one in southwest Texas is where Aerostat is also needed.
“All along the border, these tethered balloons provide persistent surveillance,” said Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County.
“We would have liked to have seen it deployed in some other areas in our portion of the border, but people in higher places made decisions of where they would be deployed,” said Cleveland.
Congressman Cuellar says he and Congressman Tony Gonzalez are pushing for the Aerostat program to be expanded over Texas soil, especially considering that we are expecting more migrants to head to the border with the upcoming US elections and because of the failed elections in Venezuela.
“When they do reach the 1-yard line, we have to have the personnel. You have to have the technology not only at the port of entry but in between,” stated Cuellar.
A layered approach to securing the border without a wall. But if you are missing an element like Aerostat, you are leaving a gap in protection.