Britain’s grim frontier

The approach is part of a global trend in using artificial intelligence technology to digitize border security. The Trump administration hired Anduril in 2020 to build a “virtual” border wall, combining the president’s plans for a physical steel barrier with AI surveillance technology. Meanwhile, the European Union has plans to start rolling out fingerprint and facial recognition software at its borders, developing “emotion detection technologies” that it says will act like an automated lie detector.

While governments embrace the technology, those working with refugees do not believe it will deter those desperate to seek asylum and argue that its use threatens their legal right to do so.

“The rhetoric is ‘immigrants are criminals, they must be controlled,'” Petra Molnar, a human rights lawyer and migration expert who is currently writing a book on AI surveillance and border security, told CNN.

“The technology could very easily be used for search and rescue, to find ships faster and to prevent these horrible disasters. But unfortunately, the reality on the ground is the opposite. It is helping powerful players to sharpen their borders and make it harder for people to come.”

winter tragedy

Despite all the surveillance equipment, people have lost their lives trying to cross the Channel. CNN took an in-depth look at how the December 14 incident unfolded, drawing on flight and ship tracking data, official records from French and British authorities, a distress call from the ship and interviews with a fisherman on the scene.

According to Tekever’s website, the drones provide “real-time intelligence to make the oceans safer and save more lives” and the AR5 drone has an “automatic identification system” capable of detecting vessels. Speaking about the company’s contract with the Home Office, Paul Webb, Tekever’s COO, said it showed “our continued commitment to protect and preserve human life through AI-powered drone surveillance.”

However, in some cases, UK authorities have also used drone footage to identify the drivers of the small boats and prosecute them for human trafficking. In 2020, Rebwar Ahmed, an Iraqi man, pleaded guilty to one charge of aiding illegal immigration after allegedly driving a boat with immigrants on board and viewing footage of the trip. The Home Office said surveillance footage “has been absolutely critical in securing convictions.”

Anduril Industries, which signed a contract with the UK Ministry of Defense to £3.8m in 2021, and currently under contract with the Home Office, uses AI-trained cameras that “autonomously detect” vessels at sea and then alert authorities. Neither Anduril nor the UK government confirmed any information about the scope and value of his current contract.

Meanwhile, Sirius Insight AI, which touts details of its work with the Home Office in your website, told CNN that its technology “can provide instant autonomous alerts” on the targets it’s tracking, while its cameras can detect “a very small boat 10 miles away with just a couple of people on it.” The Home Office does not appear to have released any record of his contract with Sirius Insight AI. Tekever confirmed to CNN that his contract with the Ministry of the Interior was renewed in February 2023 for three years.

The Home Office did not respond to CNN’s questions about why its response took so long to save lives given the extensive artificial intelligence technology in its arsenal, but said its thoughts were with those affected by the incident. In response to a FOI request made by CNN to the UK Border Force, they said revealing how this technology works in the Channel could “help criminals looking to facilitate these dangerous small boat crossings by informing gangs Organized Criminals on UK Government ISR”. (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance)” and “increasing the risk to life at sea”.

The UK Coast Guard declined to comment, citing ongoing legal proceedings related to the December 14 incident, but confirmed that it and the Home Office have multiple contracts with artificial intelligence companies. Sirius Insight AI said it could not comment on how the Home Office was using its equipment or on incidents where people had been killed on the Channel “due to the commercial nature of our relationship with the Home Office.” Tekever and Anduril said they could not comment on the matter and referred CNN to the Interior Ministry.

CNN also sought comment from French authorities about its role in the December 14 search and rescue operation, but has not received a response.

The effect on UK migration

Sunak has already hailed the “stop the boats” policy, one of the five key promises he announced in January, a success. But in fact, the numbers have continued to rise dramatically, with nearly 4,000 people making the journey by June 2023, according to the Ministry of the Interiora record compared to previous years.

On July 17, 2023, the British government passed new legislation criminalizing all those seeking asylum in the UK without prior authorization, including many who board these ships. The illegal migration bill faced serious pushback in the British Parliament with the upper house, the House of Lords, seeking multiple amendments to the bill, including adding safeguard provisions for unaccompanied migrant children and victims of modern slavery, but were ultimately defeated and passed. The United Nations has criticized the decision for disagreeing with the UK’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law, saying the bill will have “profound consequences for people in need of international protection”.

Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal, one of the UK’s highest courts, recently ruled that the government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda it was illegal, since Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country to receive refugees. The UK government has said it intends to appeal.

Molnar, the migration expert, says evidence from the US and Europe indicates that governments’ focus on deterrence and surveillance is ineffective in stopping people from coming, many of whom are fleeing ongoing conflicts or environmental degradation.

“We’ve lost track of what’s really going on,” says Molnar.

“There is an internationally protected refugee law regime that allows people to apply for asylum when they arrive in the territory, and they must have access to a fair judicial system in order to do so. But when we weaponize the borders through technology and stop people from coming, what we’re going to see is more loss of life on the high seas.”

Methodology

For this investigation, CNN collected data on the AR5 drone, owned by turn around and licensed by the UK Home Office. His complete flight history was taken from Open sky, a public flight tracking site. The flight data ranged from October 16, 2019 to July 13, 2023 and revealed that the drone had flown in British and French territorial waters. CNN also examined the drone’s flight data using flight tracking sites. ADSB exchange and Flightradar24 which revealed that he had flown between 10:00 GMT and 13:45 GMT on December 13, 2022 and 09:01 GMT and 13:49 GMT on December 14, 2022, but not during the early hours of December 14. December 2022, when the small boat carrying dozens of migrants was in danger. The Ministry of the Interior also has access to an AR3 Tekever drone and two on sensor ghost drones; however, CNN was unable to collect data on these.

CNN sent freedom of information requests to the UK Home Office and the UK Coastguard and Maritime Agency regarding what AI technology was used for the incident on December 14, 2022, but the information was not disclosed citing ongoing legal proceedings and the use of equipment being a UK matter. National security.

To study the rescue operation on December 14, 2022, CNN used flight tracking data from OpenSky, ADSB Exchange and Flightradar24 to establish when the UK Coast Guard helicopters arrived. MarineTraffic, a public shipping traffic site, provided CNN with data for all ships in the English Channel between 13:00 GMT on December 13, 2022 and 09:00 GMT on December 14, 2022, which revealed when Ray Strachan’s fishing boat arrived and when the UK lifeboats and other official boats arrived. The location of the sinking ship was established based on the location of Strachan’s fishing boat at 3:00 GMT when, Strachan told CNN, he joined the migrant boat to get people out.

The Anduril watchtower locations were established after speaking with two people who lived near an Anduril watchtower. They provided images of this tower to CNN, which were then used to identify more sentinel towers along the coast using Google Earth imagery. Its range of about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) is based on information on the Anduril website. This list of watchtowers is not exhaustive. CNN contacted the UK Home Office for a full list of the watchtowers and their locations, but this information was not provided, nor was he they seem to be listed publicly.