Locals propose another explanation
Local residents, the people who drive these covertly monitored roads every day, told CalMatters they see another reason for such hidden surveillance: The scanners are, in fact, to track U.S. citizens who leave food at water for refugees at points near the Mexican border. Those residents argue that the Trump administration slapped humanitarian groups with felony charges years ago, and that these scanners are only the latest salvo in an ongoing war on immigration.
For my part, I doubt that Border Patrol under the Trump administration is doing anything so targeted. I think the presence of these covert scanners points to two goals: One, enriching White House donors; two, mass data intake. The Trump White House has seemed more interested in acquiring and storing data en masse than in any sort of targeted approach, and these scanners are likely another move in the same vein — taking in as much information as possible, under the assumption that some of it will be useful later on. It’s an even scarier premise than the one put forth by Southern California locals, because it posts that there’s no distinct rhyme or reason to the data gathering. The administration is monitoring you simply because it can.
