August 20, 2020

U.S. Border Patrol raids humanitarian camp for migrants

topic:	Refugees and Asylum
located:	USA
editor:	Yair Oded

In late July, U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted a military-style raid on a humanitarian aid camp in Arivaca, Arizona, operated by No More Deaths (NMD), an NGO providing life-saving support to migrants crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. through the treacherous Sonora desert.

Without presenting a warrant, Border Patrol agents arrested dozens of migrants who were receiving medical attention and one NMD volunteer, ransacked and trashed the camp, employed egregious and trauma-inducing intimidation tactics, and confiscated all NMD documents and paper-work they could find on site. This is the second raid carried out by Border Patrol against NMD since Trump took office in 2017. 

NMD was founded in 2004 in Arizona as an attempt to provide humanitarian aid for migrants crossing the desert into Southern Arizona and tackle the decades-long tactic of the U.S. government to deter migrants by diverting migration routes to the border’s most arid deserts. This tactic has thus far cost the lives of thousands of migrants.

In an attempt to guarantee no more migrant deaths, NMD distributes essential supplies such as water, food, clothes, blankets, and first aid kits at remote locations in the Sonora desert. The organisation also documents cases of migrants being abused by Border Patrol agents or other immigration officials and provides them with legal support. 

As part of a broader attempt to criminalise migrants and all those who advocate for their rights, the Trump administration, as well as the Border Agency itself, had set NMD as a target for their scorn and abuse. Over the past three years, criminal charges were pressed by the White House against nine different NMD volunteers. In June 2017, the organisation’s camp in Arivaca, Arizona had been raided by Border Patrol. During the raid, three undocumented migrants were arrested along with NMD volunteer Scott Warren, whom the administration tried, and ultimately failed, to put behind bars for leaving water and food for migrants on public land.

Last July, the same camp had been raided hours after NMD published ‘embarrassing’ information online about the Border Agency’s 2017 raid. Border Patrol stormed the camp on the night of 31 July, deploying commando-style units that arrested 30 migrants who were receiving medical treatment after crossing the deadly border area. Border agents zip-tied volunteers, confiscated their phones, and shouted and pointed their guns at them as they raided all the camp’s structures.

According to testimonies by NMD volunteers that were corroborated by The Intercept, some of the vehicles used by the agents were unmarked and an aircraft hovered over the scene throughout the duration of the raid. As seen in pictures taken by NMD personnel following the raid, border agents tore through tent walls with knives, trashed their interior, and confiscated every document they could find, including NMD medical notes concerning migrant patients. Volunteers also stated that the agents were accompanied by a film crew that conducted a two-hour shoot, capturing footage they suspect will be used in service of the Agency’s PR machine. 

“Yesterday, Border Patrol harmed 30 people in irreparable ways. On a daily basis, those who migrate through the Arizona desert are targeted, terrorized, detained, and deported,” Scott Warren said following the 31 July raid. “Last night, we witnessed these tactics deployed against people who sought medical care and relief at our Byrd Camp aid station. As always when humanitarian aid in the borderlands is targeted, those who seek care are the ones that face the brunt of these violent escalations.”

As was seen in Portland, Oregon last month, where Border Patrol and other security agencies cracked down on Black Lives Matter protesters using commando tactics identical to the ones employed in Arizona, the militarisation of the U.S. government and its unbridled use of force poses an imminent threat to the rights and liberties of all people under its jurisdiction – beginning with the most vulnerable and, gradually but surely, the rest of society. 

Image by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CC

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