Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) Wants to Build a 'Digital' Border Wall That Would Also Provide Rural Broadband

Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) — the only Republican to hold a district that falls along the southern border — is not in favor of a border wall. Instead, he’s partial to the idea of a “digital” wall: a border-wide system of technology such as cameras, sensors, and drones communicating through a fiber optic network to keep the border secure. And he thinks it could have the added benefit of closing the digital divide. Rep Hurd believes that a fiber optic network installed for the purpose of connecting border security technology could pull double duty as an internet backbone for local communities to tap into. “The added benefit of using a fiber optic cable is that you can then bring broadband access to some of the rural communities along the border,” Rep Hurd said. “In 13 out of the 29 counties I represent, fewer than 20 percent [of people] have access to broadband. We can’t let rural areas be deprived of the benefits of a digital economy.” Rep Hurd admits that local Internet service providers or communities would have to pay for the rest of the infrastructure to connect homes, but said a fiber optic border network would at least “give [communities] the chance.”