For Residents of Arizona Border Town, Towers Are Unwelcome Eyes in the Sky

The technology -- cameras that can distinguish what a person is wearing or whether the person is armed up to nine miles away; infrared technology for night surveillance; radar; wireless data access points; and communications and computer equipment -- will monitor the desert for movement. Border Patrol agents in offices in Tucson and Sells, Ariz., will notify agents in the field when they pick up suspicious activity, then send a map showing the coordinates of the spot to laptops installed in patrol vehicles.

When residents in Arivaca learned in April that a tower would be erected nearby, they had four days to comment on the environmental assessment. But on two of those days, the library was closed and the document was unavailable for viewing. The document did not even mention Arivaca, instead citing the tiny town of Sasabe, a port of entry right on the border, as the only significant community in the area of the nine proposed towers.

The towers, the assessment concluded, would have "no significant impact" on the land, residents, wildlife or vegetation, and "in contrast . . . will increase human safety in the area and as a result, more citizens and businesses may be attracted to the vicinity."

A protest organized by residents of Arivaca prompted two recent meetings with Border Patrol and Boeing officials. Residents expressed concerns about the potential for invasion of their privacy and asked about the effect of the radar on things such as the town's wireless Internet system and the local populations of bats and honeybees.

"Towers will not lead to a viable solution to the problems of illegal immigration and will negatively impact desert life," said local artist C Hues, who helped organize the protest.

Residents asked about the probability that locals using the desert for hunting or recreation might trigger the sensors, prompting false alarms and wasting the time of agents who respond -- a problem that has previously plagued high-tech border monitoring systems.

Tom King, an assistant chief patrol agent from Border Patrol headquarters in Washington, told residents that Arivaca was mistakenly excluded from the assessment when the tower sites were chosen. He said a tower was located close to town because of mountainous terrain to the south. King said the sensors are not intended to focus on residents' homes and that the camera's sophisticated optics will be able to distinguish between harmless and illegal activity.

But when asked if he could assure residents that the towers would not be used for "spying" on them in the future, King replied: "I would guess that there's no guarantees. Administration changes, my job changes. That's the way it works, and that's the most honest answer I think I can give you."

King said the tower will not be moved unless "it is proven ineffective."

That, said resident Mary Scott, is what many hope will happen. Scott, a wildlife photographer and avid tower opponent, is organizing residents to increase their activity around the nearby tower.

"We use the area now for bird-watching, hiking, biking, picnicking, hunting . . . rock prayer circles," Scott said. "We're going to be using our recreational space in such a way that a whole lot of resources will have to be spent sending [agents] out to see what we're having for lunch."

Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth in Washington contributed to this report.