Report: U.S. Officials Weighed ‘Heat-Ray’ Weapon at Border in 2018

In 2018, top U.S. border protection officials discussed the possibility of using microwave crowd dispersal weapons. The idea was not implemented.

The allegations are made in a story by the New York Times where Michael D. Shear quoted two anonymous sources reportedly at a meeting between top officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection two weeks before the 2018 midterm elections. The weapon in question is called Active Denial System, “a ‘heat-ray’ designed by the military to make people’s skin feel like it is burning when they get within range of its invisible beams.”

At the time of the meeting in October 2018, the agencies that dealt with border security were swamped with caravans of Central American migrants, including a large portion of women and children seeking to file asylum claims. The rapidly growing number of migrants over several months overwhelmed detention facilities.

“Kirstjen Nielsen, then the Secretary of Homeland Security told an aide after the meeting that she would not authorize the use of such a device, and it should never be brought up again in her presence” the Times quoted an unnamed official.

According to the report, a spokesman from Homeland Security claimed the microwave weapon was never considered.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.