The border is everywhere

"No one paid attention to the gunshots that echoed through the convention center. They were real enough, and so were the screams that accompanied them, in the sense that they were recordings of real people who, like guest stars on Law and Order, reenacted scenarios that had clearly been plucked from the headlines: a kidnapping, a mass shooting in a church, a riot on a city street. The auditory terror punctured the otherwise banal din of an industry conference. This terror was, in fact, one of the products on display: the V-300 S-Screen Simulator, developed by VirTra, one of the 193 vendors at the annual Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona."

"For more than a decade, vendors and government representatives have mingled at the Border Security Expo, an annual trade show at which the former hawk their goods to the latter, promising that this camera or that sensor are the key to locking down the border once and for all. A smattering of protesters greeted us outside the convention center that morning, and some speakers - including border czar Tom Homan, who lambasted the "hateful rhetoric" of the fake news media - alluded to unfavorable public sentiment. But the feeling inside was convivial. This year's expo was a victory lap for the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security and their many friends in the "vendor community.""

"The relationships were perhaps a little too chummy. Homan had, after all, allegedly accepted $50,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives hoping to land a government contract. The bureau quashed the investigation after Trump's return to office, and a Justice Department appointee called it a "deep state" attempt to discredit Trump's valiant border czar. Even members of Congress, Homan fumed, had the gall to call ICE and Border Patrol agents "Nazis" and "racists." Such vile epithets had no place at the expo, where attendees celebrated the past year's record-l"

Gunshots and screams played through a convention center during a border security expo, coming from a simulator product designed to reenact real-world crimes such as kidnappings, church mass shootings, and street riots. Vendors and government representatives mingle at the annual event, where companies pitch cameras, sensors, and other tools as solutions for border security. Protesters appear outside, and speakers criticize unfavorable media coverage and public sentiment. The atmosphere inside is described as convivial and closely connected between the Department of Homeland Security and the vendor community. Allegations of bribery involving border czar Tom Homan and claims of political interference are mentioned, alongside congressional criticism of ICE and Border Patrol personnel.

Read at The Verge