海角大神

As the world begins to travel again, Europe is sending migrants a loud message: Stay away!

Greek border police are firing bursts of deafening noise from an armored truck over the frontier into Turkey. Mounted on the vehicle, the long-range acoustic device, or 鈥渟ound cannon,鈥� is the size of a small TV set but can match the volume of a jet engine.

It鈥檚 part of a vast array of physical and experimental new digital barriers being installed and tested during the quiet months of the coronavirus pandemic at the 200-kilometer (125-mile) Greek border with Turkey to stop people entering the European Union illegally.

A new steel wall, similar to recent construction on the United States-Mexico border, blocks commonly-used crossing points along the Evros River that separates the two countries.

Nearby observation towers are being fitted with long-range cameras, night vision, and multiple sensors. The data will be sent to control centers to flag suspicious movement using artificial intelligence analysis.

鈥淲e will have a clear 鈥榩re-border鈥� picture of what鈥檚 happening,鈥� Police Maj. Dimonsthenis Kamargios, head of the region鈥檚 border guard authority, told the Associated Press.

The EU聽has poured 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) into security tech research following the refugee crisis in 2015-16, when more than 1 million people聽鈥� many escaping wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan聽鈥� fled to Greece and on to other EU聽countries.

The automated surveillance network being built on the Greek-Turkish border is aimed at detecting migrants early and deterring them from crossing, with river and land patrols using searchlights and long-range acoustic devices.

Key elements of the network will be launched by the end of the year, Mr. Kamargios said. 鈥淥ur task is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. We need modern equipment and tools to do that.鈥�

Researchers at universities around Europe, working with private firms, have developed futuristic surveillance and verification technology and tested more than a dozen projects at Greek borders.

AI-powered lie detectors and virtual border-guard interview bots have been piloted, as well as efforts to integrate satellite data with footage from drones on land, air, sea, and underwater. Palm scanners record the unique vein pattern in a person鈥檚 hand to use as a biometric identifier, and the makers of live camera reconstruction technology promise to erase foliage virtually, exposing people hiding near border areas.

Testing has also been conducted in Hungary, Latvia, and elsewhere along the eastern EU聽perimeter.

The more aggressive migration strategy has been advanced by European policymakers over the past five years, funding deals with Mediterranean countries outside the bloc to hold migrants back and transforming the EU聽border protection agency, Frontex, from a coordination mechanism to a full-fledged multinational security force.

But regional migration deals have left the EU聽exposed to political pressure from neighbors.

Earlier this month, several thousand migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a single day, prompting Spain to deploy the army. A similar crisis unfolded on the Greek-Turkish border and lasted three weeks last year.

Greece is pressing the EU聽to let Frontex patrol outside its territorial waters to stop migrants reaching Lesbos and other Greek islands, the most common route in Europe for illegal crossing in recent years.

Armed with new tech tools, European law enforcement authorities are leaning further outside borders.

Not all the surveillance programs being tested will be included in the new detection system, but human rights groups say the emerging technology will make it even harder for refugees fleeing wars and extreme hardship to find safety.

Patrick Breyer, a European lawmaker from Germany, has taken an EU聽research authority to court, demanding that details of the AI-powered lie detection program be made public.

鈥淲hat we are seeing at the borders, and in treating foreign nationals generally, is that it鈥檚 often a testing field for technologies that are later used on Europeans as well. And that鈥檚 why everybody should care, in their own self-interest,鈥� Mr. Breyer of the German Pirates Party told the AP.

He urged authorities to allow broad oversight of border surveillance methods to review ethical concerns and prevent the sale of the technology through private partners to authoritarian regimes outside the EU.

Ella Jakubowska, of the digital rights group EDRi, argued that EU聽officials were adopting 鈥渢echno-solutionism鈥� to sideline moral considerations in dealing with the complex issue of migration.

鈥淚t is deeply troubling that, time and again, EU聽funds are poured into expensive technologies which are used in ways that criminalize, experiment with, and dehumanize people on the move,鈥� she said.

The London-based group Privacy International argued the tougher border policing would provide a political reward to European leaders who have adopted a hard line on migration.

鈥淚f people migrating are viewed only as a security problem to be deterred and challenged, the inevitable result is that governments will throw technology at controlling them,鈥� said Edin Omanovic, an advocacy director at the group.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not hard to see why: across Europe we have autocrats looking for power by targeting foreigners, otherwise progressive leaders who have failed to come up with any alternatives to copying their agendas, and a rampant arms industry with vast access to decision-makers.鈥�

Migration flows have slowed in many parts of Europe during the pandemic, interrupting an increase recorded over years. In Greece, for example, the number of arrivals dropped from nearly 75,000 in 2019 to 15,700 in 2020, a 78% decrease.

But the pressure is sure to return. Between 2000 and 2020, the world鈥檚 migrant population rose by more than 80% to reach 272 million, according to United Nations data, fast outpacing international population growth.

At the Greek border village of Poros, the breakfast discussion at a cafe was about the recent crisis on the Spanish-Moroccan border.

Many of the houses in the area are abandoned and in a gradual state of collapse, and life is adjusting to that reality.

Cows use the steel wall as a barrier for the wind and rest nearby.

Panagiotis Kyrgiannis, a Poros resident, says the wall and other preventive measures have brought migrant crossings to a dead stop.

鈥淲e are used to seeing them cross over and come through the village in groups of 80 or a 100,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e were not afraid. ... They don鈥檛 want to settle here. All of this that鈥檚 happening around us is not about us.鈥�

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽AP writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.