Border Patrol agents have allegedly violated an Obama-era agreement to not enter a humanitarian camp along the border that provides lifesaving medical assistance to immigrants who have crossed the desert, this week arresting four immigrants who were under No More Deaths’ care. From 2001 to 2014, an estimated 2,100 immigrants died in the searing Arizona desert, where temperatures can go as high as 110 degrees. Oftentimes, these immigrants die alone, from heat and exposure, with many bodies going unclaimed due to lack of ID or because their relatives are in another country.
But for years, workers from the No More Deaths humanitarian group have attempted to prevent these tragic deaths by providing water and lifesaving medical assistance to recent crossers, without interference from federal immigration agents, “described as a ‘good faith agreement’” by No More Deaths. Then yesterday, in what the group describes as “a direct and targeted attack on the humanitarian assistance we are providing,” Border Patrol agents stormed the camp and arrested four immigrants:
The arrests came during a heat wave and after several days of heightened surveillance of the camp, which is run by No More Deaths. In a tweet Thursday evening, the organization said “30 armed agents entered camp w at least 15 trucks, 2 quads and helicopter to apprehend four patients receiving care.” Tucson.com first reported on the arrests Thursday evening.
The Customs and Border Protection Agency’s Arizona office also tweeted about the incident, releasing photos of migrants being arrested and announcing that the arrests were of Mexican nationals for immigration violations.
“Obstruction of humanitarian aid is an egregious abuse by the law enforcement agency, a clear violation of international humanitarian law and a violation of the organization’s written agreement with the Tucson Sector Border Patrol,” said the group.
There have already been incredibly disturbing reports of self-proclaimed border vigilantes intentionally stabbing jugs of water left in the desert by good samaritans for immigrants in crisis, and now Border Patrol agents appear to be targeting humanitarian workers whose sole goal is to prevent more human beings from dying torturous deaths in the desert. No More Deaths has a policy of not reporting any immigrants to Border Patrol, but now the agency’s actions could stop someone in crisis from going to No More Deaths for help. Craven, inhumane, and intentional. After all, this is just the latest in Donald Trump’s mission to make America white again:
Other Obama-era immigrant-friendly policies are beginning to fray under the Trump administration, which has harshly cracked down on unauthorized migrants both along the border and within the United States. Under various executive orders, officials and agents with the various U.S. Department of Homeland Security components have been increasingly empowered to go after immigrants with and without criminal records. Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan recently suggested that his agency would not discount detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants without any criminal history, an enforcement priority under the previous administration. The Trump administration also rolled back on an Obama-era directive to call on agents to exercise prosecutorial discretion in arresting undocumented parents of American-born citizens.