Anduril’s Border Empire: How a Billionaire-Backed AI Firm Took Over U.S. Immigration Enforcement

Since 2018, Anduril Industries—a rapidly growing defense tech firm backed by billionaire Peter Thiel and founded by Palmer Luckey—has landed 16 contracts from the Department of Homeland Security worth over $550 million. The goal? To blanket the U.S.-Mexico border with autonomous surveillance towers, AI-powered drones, and military-grade interceptor systems. What started as a modest border security pilot project has morphed into a full-blown, algorithm-driven enforcement machine.

Critics say it’s the clearest signal yet that the future of immigration enforcement isn’t boots on the ground—it’s software in the sky.

DHS Contracts Turn Silicon Valley Startup into Border Surveillance Giant

Anduril’s first major DHS contract came in June 2018, with a $4.8 million deal to deploy ten Lattice-powered Autonomous Surveillance Towers in San Diego and Yuma. In 2019, the U.S. Marine Corps paid $13.5 million to test similar systems in Arizona. By early 2020, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had formalized Anduril’s Lattice system as a Program of Record, securing $85 million to expand the surveillance network into El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley.

From 2021 to 2023, the feds awarded an estimated $160 million more in contracts to upgrade camera optics, integrate AI drone systems, and deploy advanced radar in sectors like Tucson, Douglas, Eagle Pass, McAllen, and Del Rio. A March 2023 award funded 51 additional towers for $38 million.

And in August 2024, the Pentagon issued a $249.9 million award for a package of Anduril weapons systems—including Roadrunner, Anvil, and Quasar—to be deployed at classified border-adjacent sites under Delivery Order H9240224F0057.

How Border Surveillance Technology Actually Works

Anduril’s tech is powered by Lattice, an artificial intelligence platform that integrates radar, infrared, acoustic sensors, and computer vision. It identifies and tracks “objects of interest”—in practice, usually human beings crossing the border—and instantly flags them to Border Patrol agents or autonomous drones for real-time response.

A single agent can manage dozens of towers remotely, effectively turning desert outposts into automated surveillance hubs. This isn’t theoretical: the system is already operational in at least eight CBP sectors, including San Diego, Yuma, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, Tucson, Douglas, Eagle Pass, and Del Rio.

Weaponized Drones and Military-Grade Interceptors at the Border

• Roadrunner: A VTOL drone interceptor that loiters autonomously, tracks fast-moving targets, and returns to base for reuse.

• Anvil: A counter-drone system designed to destroy UAVs mid-air using onboard AI and kinetic impact.

• Quasar: Still under wraps. Experts believe it may be a long-range sensor node or an experimental directed-energy system.

All three platforms have been tested at White Sands Missile Range and are part of the growing list of military-grade border enforcement tools now deployed on U.S. soil.

Migrant Deaths Rise as Enforcement Grows More Lethal

As border tech has grown more automated, migrant deaths have surged, especially in remote desert crossings. According to CBP data, more migrants died from exposure and dehydration in 2022 and 2023 than any other time in recent history. Humanitarian groups have warned for years that increased surveillance forces migrants into more dangerous terrain—and now, with AI monitoring their every move, escape routes are shrinking fast.

Inside the U.S., enforcement is also escalating. ICE raids in cities have intensified under Trump’s second term. Rights organizations continue to raise alarms about militarized immigration policing, lack of transparency, and the creep of surveillance infrastructure from the border into civilian life.

Guantánamo Bay: Immigration Detention’s Next Frontier

In early 2025, the Trump administration began detaining migrants at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base. Over 500 people have been held there since February, despite the facility’s capacity of just 200 detainees. The cost? More than $100,000 per person per day, according to Senator Gary Peters—compared to about $165/day for domestic ICE detention.

The program has drawn legal fire from civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who argue the use of military facilities for immigration detention is both unlawful and political theater.

A Surveillance State, Funded by Taxpayers

Anduril Industries, valued at over $20 billion, is no longer a startup. It’s a key architect of America’s digital border wall—one built with taxpayer dollars, private contracts, and virtually zero public oversight.

Its founders and executives, closely tied to the Thiel-Palantir tech pipeline, are reaping the rewards. Meanwhile, the U.S. public is left in the dark about how exactly this AI-powered surveillance infrastructure is being used—and where it goes next.