Robots to AI, the technology behind Trumps plan to seal the Southern Border

Kevin Cohen, the CEO and co-founder of Tel Aviv-based startup RealEye, opens his computer, ready to introduce the tools that he believes will keep America’s borders more secure.The screen fills with photos of people young and old, from all ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds.“We’re basically aggregating information from hundreds of thousands of sources online, not only to classify someone as a potential danger or threat, but also to indicate the probability of them meshing into various nefarious networks,” says Cohen.

“We can take 50,000 individuals and within literally seconds, I can give you the insights and the indexing of their behavior.”RealEye has developed two AI-driven platforms, Masad and Fortress, that provide real-time vetting and “semi-active” monitoring of immigrants entering a country either legally or otherwise, with a history of illegal or suspicious activities.These tools draw not just on criminal records (which could be as innocuous as traffic violations), but also digital footprints left on social media and the dark web.Cohen pulls up the profile of a man named Yosef, and instantly the man’s history appears like bullet points on the screen.

“We can see that this specific individual funnels money to Hamas and other operatives,” says Cohen.“We know this guy is no good.”In just a few days, Donald Trump will be inaugurated for his second term as US president.

He’s vowed that on Day One, his priority will be “the largest deportation operation in American history,” and there is “no price tag.” Trump’s plans to secure our Southern border include everything from a proposed hotline center for citizens to call in tips on undocumented migrants to building a massive immigration detention center on a 1,402-acre plot on the Rio Grande.Trump has also indicated his intention to continue construction of a 30-foot-high fence across the US-Mexico border.

In fact, he’s considering declaring illegal immigration a national ...