The Home Office has set up at least eight AI-driven surveillance towers along the South-East coast of England, and critics say these towers may be tied to rising migrant deaths in the English Channel.
A project by the Migrants Rights Network (MRN) and researcher Samuel Story has pinpointed eight active surveillance towers between Hastings and Margate, spots where many asylum seekers cross the Channel. They also noted two towers that are no longer in operation, either dismantled or moved. The Home Office, responding to a freedom of information request, has indirectly recognized that heightened border surveillance could increase risks for migrants trying to cross.
Built by the US defense company Anduril, these 5.5-meter Maritime Sentry Towers come equipped with advanced radar and thermal imaging to spot small boats and other watercraft up to nine miles away. They rely on an AI operating system that combines data from various sources, like drones, to create a real-time picture of the coast.
As of April 2025, the identified towers include locations like Fairlight Coastguard Station, Dungeness Lighthouse, and Ramsgate Port. Though two additional towers have been reported near Lydd Ranges and Hythe Ranges, they’re either gone or out of commission.
MRN argues these towers signify a troubling shift toward a more militarized border approach, forcing migrants into riskier routes. They described these surveillance systems as active participants in a “border apartheid” setup that targets individuals deemed “undesirable.” With the upcoming Border Security Bill poised to grant border authorities hefty powers over migrants, the narrative increasingly paints asylum seekers as security threats, heightening their dehumanization.
The message from MRN is clear: these towers don’t make seeking asylum safer. Instead, they push people toward illegal and dangerous crossings. With the escalation of surveillance and policing, migrants find themselves in perilous situations as they resort to using middlemen. In a response to an FOI request, the Home Office claimed revealing tower details could assist criminal gangs in avoiding detection, yet they also admitted that more surveillance might expose migrants to greater danger by complicating search and rescue operations.
MRN points out that despite the Home Office’s hesitance, it recognizes that increased surveillance may force migrants into more remote and hazardous crossing points. They cite a record number of migrant deaths in the Channel in 2024, expressing concern that the UK’s autonomous surveillance technology risk turning the English Channel into a lethal crossing.
Despite their claims of a humanitarian focus, MRN and others question the true effectiveness of the surveillance systems. Storey notes that while the technology is framed as a protective measure, people continue to die trying to reach safety. He suggests an obvious remedy: the UK government should provide safe and lawful pathways for migrants rather than relying on expensive AI technologies.
The issue of transparency also looms large. While the Financial Times reported on the Home Office’s contract with Anduril, MRN and Story lament the lack of scrutiny and the department’s resistance to disclosing details about the towers. They emphasize a lack of clarity on contract specifics, tower locations, and how the data collected might influence asylum claims.
One recent FOI response revealed that the contract with Anduril is valued at over £16 million, lasting until June 2025. Story criticized the struggle to obtain information on surveillance and immigration issues, describing the process as a “game of cat and mouse.” Concerns about the Home Office’s application of information-exemption laws were also raised; experts suggest that they might have misapplied these exemptions without due consideration of public interest.
Both MRN and Story suspect data from the towers may be stored on cloud services like Amazon Web Services, given the Home Office’s previous confirmation that other data is kept there. Yet, confirmation is still pending for where the tower data ultimately resides.
As for practical steps moving forward, MRN urges individuals near the towers to speak out to local MPs, and they’re calling on anyone who crossed the Channel since mid-2022 to request access to their data from the Home Office if they fear it may have been collected. They’re also active in organizing local campaigns against the surveillance system.