The New York Times Magazine - USA (2022-01-23)

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I had seen versions of this fantasy

before, wrapped in diff erent sorts of come-

dic packaging. As of 2015, for instance, a

video game called Border Patrol had been

played more than 12 million times on the

website Nerd Nirvana. A rudimentary

fi rst- person shooter, Border Patrol invited

players to place their cross hairs on three

diff erent kinds of cartoon characters: a

‘‘Mexican Nationalist’’ wearing a bando-

leer, a tattooed ‘‘drug smuggler’’ in a wide

sombrero and a pregnant ‘‘breeder’’ hold-

ing two children by the hands, one wearing

a diaper, the other a little sombrero. The

backdrop showed a river cutting through a

cactus- dotted desert. The players’ job was

to shoot these brown- skinned characters

as they tried to cross the river; each kill was

recorded with a bloody splat. The ‘‘breed-

er’’ was worth more points, presumably

because you also killed her children, born

and unborn. ‘‘There is one simple objec-

tive to this game,’’ the opening sequence

declared. ‘‘Keep them out ... at any cost!’’

The Brinc video was neither a game nor

a joke. It seemed to spring from sincere

technocratic opportunism — the hope of

starting a company that could capitalize

on President Donald Trump’s dream of

building a wall, any wall, on the border.

The person speaking is Blake Resnick,

who turned 18 while fi lming the video and

recently made Forbes’s ‘‘30 under 30’’ list

after Brinc drew some $27 million in fund-

ing from investors. Before the company’s

offi cial launch, Resnick pivoted away

from taser- drones and toward products

for fi rst responders; he has disavowed the

video, calling it ‘‘immature’’ and ‘‘deeply

regrettable’’ and stressing that the taser-

drone was never produced. ‘‘Adhering to

Brinc’s ethics and core values,’’ he now

says, ‘‘the company will never create any

lethal or weaponized drones.’’ That pre-

sumably includes the provisional patent

he fi led for in 2017, covering a ‘‘Drone

Implemented Border Patrol’’ that could

include a taser, sponge grenades or even

a particle- beam weapon.

When experts talk about the causes of

immigration, they often speak of ‘‘push’’

and ‘‘pull’’ factors. Those on the left like

to emphasize push factors — things that

Event that Brinc

says inspired its

creation:

The 2017 mass

shooting in Las

Vegas, which helped

Resnick imagine

using emergency-

response drones in

dangerous areas.