Border Security Expo returns to Phoenix with Trump officials and military-grade tech on display

Phoenix will once again host a trade show where Trump administration immigration officials will mingle with military and tech companies bidding for government border contracts.

The Border Security Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center May 5 and 6 features speeches from immigration enforcement leaders, panel discussions and an expo floor where vendors will hawk their wares to government officials from around the world. 

At last year’s expo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons made headlines when the Arizona Mirror reported on comments he made during a panel discussion in which he said the agency needed to treat deportations like Amazon Prime, but with human beings instead of packages. 

Lyons, who will be resigning at the end of May, is expected to speak again during a “State of the Border” panel on May 5. 

The event will feature a number of high ranking officials from ICE, Customs and Border Patrol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Agency. 

President Donald Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, spoke at last year’s expo and is giving the opening keynote again this year. 

Homan served as the acting director of ICE during Trump’s first term. He backed the controversial “zero tolerance” policy at the southern border and has been connected to far-right extremist and conspiracy theorist groups. 

Last year also featured then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem; while her successor, Markwayne Mullin, does not appear to be scheduled, other high profile members of the administration are. 

Before appearing at the Border Security Expo last year, Noem participated in an ICE raid in Phoenix that included about 100 federal agents. Among the people embedded at the raid was anti-LGBTQ influencer Chaya Raichik. 

The day after Homan speaks next week, interim U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche will be giving a “keynote address” to attendees. A number of high ranking members of Customs and Border Protection, DEA and ICE are listed as speaking on a number of panels, as well. 

Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels will also speak at the event on a panel to give local perspectives to border issues. 

The expo will also feature a litany of companies who will be aiming to impress government officials at the event in the hopes of securing a government contract or continuing an existing one. 

The Mirror examined the list of companies set to be in attendance to highlight some of the key trends as well as noteworthy companies seeking the attention of the government officials.  

Some have ties to Trump and his allies, such as Andruil Industries, which is tied to Trump ally Palantir.

Many, if not most, of the vendors at the expo also serve the United States military and militaries overseas. 

For example, Thales Defense and Security Inc. is a subsidiary of Thales Group, a French multinational aerospace and defense corporation, and has primarily done work on radio upgrades for the US Army and NATO forces.  

When it comes to immigration and border enforcement, the company has supplied the systems the United States uses at ports of entry that involve biometric data. Other companies known for their large military contracts, such as BAE Systems, also will be present. 

One particular military contracting company with a dark past also will have a booth on the expo floor. In November 2024, a jury found that Caci International shared liability with the U.S. Army for the torture of three Iraqi men at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004, awarding the men $42 million. 

The Virginia-based defense contractor has long gotten a number of contracts from the Department of Homeland Security. 

Another group with ties to Trump and a controversial backstory is Constellis, one of the event’s sponsors this year, which is part of the private security company known as Triple Canopy. Its guards were spotted outside various federal agencies that were being taken over last year by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. 

The products that vendors will be displaying on the expo floor range from physical products like cameras and ground sensors to software that can be used to process data obtained by law enforcement. 

Much of that equipment is also military grade. 

Groups like QuickSet Defense Technologies and CopaSAT make equipment that is marketed not just to federal agencies patrolling the border, but military customers. 

Other tech is similar, often showcased being used by armed forces in online literature or described with military jargon. 

Many of the surveillance camera platforms are similar or the same as those used on military aircraft, naval vessels or ground vehicles. Some firms, like Controp USA, boast about the capabilities of their surveillance platforms for both local law enforcement and military. 

The militarization of police and border enforcement has long been a point of debate among privacy advocates, with research suggesting that law enforcement that has more access to military grade equipment are more likely to have violent encounters with the public.  

Strongwatch will have a presence again at the expo and it already has some of its tools in the hands of local Arizona law enforcement. The Phoenix Police Department has one of Strongwatch’s “Freedom on the Move” surveillance truck platforms, which are frequently deployed at parades and protests. 

Akima, which got nearly $1 billion in contracts with the U.S. Space Force, is the expo’s top sponsor yet again. 

The Border Patrol Foundation, whose president in 2018 garnered controversy for defending the use of pepper spray on migrants at the border by saying that a person could put it on nachos and eat it, will have a role in the expo as well. 

That man, Ron Colburn, is on the advisory board for the expo.