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The government said the criminalization of encouraging illegal immigration dates back over a century.

A law under review by the Supreme Court makes it a crime to encourage unlawful immigration into the U.S., but there are questions about how government prosecutors would distinguish between scams targeting vulnerable migrants and commonplace discussions. Read more»

Press freedom groups dispute the government’s claim that First Amendment concerns are hypothetical, citing the surveillance of journalists covering the migrant caravans.

The Biden administration will head to the Supreme Court to defend a federal law that criminalizes certain speech - while the law is aimed at those who would encourage people crossing the border to skirt law enforcement, it has been used by the government to surveil journalists. Read more»

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva pushed for "transparency and oversight" from Homeland Security officials after U.S. Customs and Border Protection lofted a new surveillance blimp near Nogales last week, prompting an outcry from county and city officials. Read more»

Governor Doug Ducey give a State of the State Address at the El Conquistador Resort on Jan. 14, 2022.

Governor Ducey signed a $564 million border security bill - pushed through the GOP-dominated Legislature along party lines - that allocates $335 million in state sales tax revenue to build and maintain a wall along the state’s border with Mexico. Read more»

ICE has a "dragnet surveillance system," allowing the agency to pull up dossiers on most people in the U.S., according to a report by privacy advocates. Read more»

Robots used to search drug smuggling tunnels vary in size but are equipped with lights, a camera and the ability to retract their running gear to fit into narrow spaces.

Arizona accounts for more than 9% of drugs that cross the land border into the U.S. from Mexico each year, and technology does some of the dirty work of stemming the flow as Mexican cartels work to stay steps ahead of them. Read more»

Airbus Zephyr Solar High Altitude Platform System (HAPS) during a test flight in Arizona this summer.

A new breed of aircraft that flies in the stratosphere just completed a set of tests in the Arizona desert, breaking new records and worrying privacy advocates about what the aircraft may hold for the future. Read more»

Advocates say the unprecedented proposal could spark an industry trend that could open a backdoor to widespread surveillance.

Virtual communities have long provided a space for LGBTQ youth to explore their identities, but as technology companies ratchet up surveillance in the name of content moderation, the digital privacy of LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable people may be at risk. Read more»

The legal dispute dates back to January 2019, when the ACLU sued seven federal agencies for refusing to release records on their use of social media monitoring tools.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot withhold information on its rules for authorizing agents to use fake identities and non-government accounts to spy on social media users, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Read more»

'We can’t get transmission down through vaccination alone,' said Angela Rasmussen, virologist at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security. 'We need to be encouraging leadership, both at the state and federal levels, to protect people, to have paid sick leave for people if they become symptomatic.'

Governors continue to open indoor dining before vaccinations become widespread. Experts warn this could create superspreading playgrounds for dangerous variants and squander our best shot at getting the pandemic under control. Read more»

The ACLU complained in federal court Wednesday that the Trump administration is staying mum about its efforts to track immigrants’ movements using cellphone location data. Read more»

A C26 surveillance plane.

The Arizona National Guard has been helping the Phoenix Police Department monitor Black Lives Matter protests using helicopters and an airplane that has been used for counter-drug operations along Arizona's border with Mexico. Read more»

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich claimed in a court filing that Google has violated Arizona's Consumer Fraud Act in the way it gathers location data, and he is asking the tech giant to pay millions of dollars in fines and restitution. Read more»

Volunteers usher a group of migrants to the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center across the street from the bus station in McAllen.

Pilot projects could lead to the Trump administration storing genetic material from children as young as 14 years old in the name of fighting crime. Read more»

A Border Patrol agent in the desert near Arivaca, Ariz.

The Trump administration is creating a center that will give immigration agents access to information from U.S. intelligence agencies. Migrants and others denied entry will be unable to see the evidence against them because it is classified. Read more»

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