Arizona Lawmaker Demos State-Funded Virtual Fence Proposal
PHOENIX – A parking lot next to Arizona’s state capitol was briefly turned into a virtual border fence demonstration site on Tuesday.
Republican State Sen. Bob Worsley wants the state to buy hundreds of mobile sensor stations and install them along Arizona's southern border.
His technology of choice is a 25-foot pole with cameras and radar mounted on top. The tower is made by a Tucson company, while a Utah-based company, Spotter RF, makes the radar technology.
Spotter RF's CEO Logan Harris demonstrated the equipment in front of reporters.
"So it tracks and observes moving people, or vehicles," Harris said, as a monitor showed footage of people walking on the other side of the Senate building.
Worsley wants the state to spend $30 million to put 300 of these along Arizona's border.
His motivation?
To see how well the feds are doing.
Even though immigration reform in Washington is dead for now, Worsley said it will come up again. In preparation, he said border states like Arizona should independently verify border security.
"And if in fact we see that unauthorized drugs are moving and unauthorized human trafficking is still coming across the border, we would say 'Hey, we don't have this problem solved yet,'" Worsley said. "So to go to visa reform, green card reform, etcetera would be premature in theminds of many in my party right now."
In fact, at a recent event in Washington where the topic of immigration reform came up, Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas reportedly said, "You secure the border as confirmed by border states ... and we will work out a deal very quickly."
Meanwhile, the federal government has recently awarded a $145 million contract to install surveillance towers along Arizona's southern border.
The federal government is also in the process of buying mobile surveillance systems similar to the ones that Worsley likes.
