He saw an abandoned trailer. Then, he uncovered a surveillance network on California’s border

By Wendy Fry and Khari Johnson, CalMatters

On a cracked two-lane road on the eastern edge of San Diego County, James Cordero eased his Jeep onto the shoulder after something caught his eye. It looked like an abandoned trailer. Inside he found a hidden camera feeding a vast surveillance network that logs the license plate of every driver passing through this stretch of remote backcountry between San Diego and the Arizona state line.

Cordero, 44, has found dozens of these cameras hidden...