Phone App Aids Illegals Crossing The Border: "The Transborder Immigrant Tool"

Technology will now be assisting illegal aliens (ooh!  I'm sorry -- "undocumented workers", as I have been lectured by the PC folks) as they cross the border from Mexico to the U.S.   Plans are in the works for a $30 cellphone to be available by summer -- one that is encrypted to avoid detection by border patrolmen.  It was developed by University of California-San Diego professor and "activist" Ricardo Dominguez and UCSD lecturer Brett Stalbaum.

Here's what Dominguez told The San Francisco Chronicle:

We looked at the Motorola i455 cell phone, which is under $30, available even cheaper on eBay, and includes a free GPS applet. We were able to crack it and create a simple compass-like navigation system. We were also able to add other information, like where to find water left by the Border Angels, where to find Quaker help centers that will wrap your feet, how far you are from the highway--things to make the application really benefit individuals who are crossing the border.

Another feature of this tech-based tool is its art base: the phone will also broadcast poetry to 'comfort' those on the long, hot trek.  According to Silicon Valley's Mercury News, the phones GPS, or "Global Poetic System", will broadcast such poems, with one having the verse "May your tracks cut the shortest distance between points A and B."

Here's more from the Mercury News (emphasis added):

...
The designers — three visual artists on UCSD's faculty and an English professor at the University of Michigan — are undeterred as they criticize a U.S. policy they say embraces illegal immigrants for cheap labor while letting them die crossing the border.

"It's about giving water to somebody who's dying in the desert of dehydration," said Micha Cardenas, 32, a UCSD lecturer.

The effort is being done on the government's dime — an irony not lost on the designers whose salaries are paid by the state of California. 

"There are many, many areas in which every American would say I don't like the way my tax dollars are being spent. Our answer to that is an in-your-face 'so what?'" says UCSD lecturer Brett Stalbaum, 33, a self-described news junkie who likens his role to chief technology officer.
...

Luis Jimenez, 47, was abandoned by smugglers and rescued by the Border Patrol twice this year — once after hitting his head on a rock and again after being bit by a snake. The Salvadoran migrant, who hopes to reach family in Los Angeles, would try the GPS device but can't afford one.  [Did you catch that?  He's been caught twice already?!?]
...

The designers, who have raised $15,000 from a UCSD grant and an art festival award, hope to hand out phones for free in Mexico. The phones sell used for about $30 apiece. It costs nothing to add the GPS software.

Distribution would be tightly controlled by migrant shelters and advocacy groups to keep them away from anti-illegal immigration activists. The migrants would need passwords to use them.

U.S. authorities are unfazed. The Border Patrol has begun a $6.7-billion plan to drape the border with whiz-bang cameras, sensors and other technology. 

"It's nothing new," said Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott. "We've seen handheld GPS devices used by smugglers. ... We're just going to have to learn to adapt to any challenges."

Critics of illegal immigration say the device is misguided, at best.

"If it's not a crime, it's very close to committing a crime," said Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego. "Whether this constitutes aiding and abetting would depend on the details, but it certainly puts you in the discussion."
...

Let's not forget that back in 2005 the Mexican government published a comic book-like guide to aid Mexicans in their transborder adventures.   Then again, with immigration numbers being down for the past year and half due to economic problems here in the U.S., perhaps the phones won't be a hot seller for a while.