A humanitarian group that provides water and other lifesaving aid to migrants in the desert along the southern border says that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has yet again retaliated against the organization for releasing information about the agency’s tactics, last week raiding No More Death’s medical camp. “Around sunset on July 31st, US Border Patrol raided No More Deaths’ humanitarian aid station, Byrd Camp, detaining over thirty people who were receiving medical care, food, water, and shelter from the 100+ degree heat,” the group said.
Among the agents who carried out the raid were members of BORTAC, the same tactical unit that recently kidnapped demonstrators off the street who were protesting police violence in Portland, Oregon. “The initial detention and surveillance of Byrd Camp was set up just 24 hours after No More Deaths released emails from a FOIA request revealing the role of BORTAC ... and the Border Patrol Union’s role in a 2017 raid of the same aid station,” No More Deaths said. “The message is clear: expose Border Patrol abuses, face retaliation.”
“In a massive show of force, Border Patrol, along with BORTAC, descended on the camp with an armored vehicle, three ATVS, two helicopters, and an estimated 24 marked and unmarked vehicles,” the group said about the raid last week.
“Agents refused to show a warrant upon entry, and were not wearing masks,” the group continued. “For two hours, in darkness, they detained and chased people receiving care while a Border Patrol cameraman filmed the scene. The day before, agents had entered the property without a warrant and detained one person receiving care. Border Patrol then set up 24-hour surveillance around the perimeter, deterring anyone else from entering the camp to seek help.” In The Los Angeles Times, columnist Mariah Kreutter writes the raid “suggests government retaliation at the border”—and that’s exactly what it is.
Back in 2018, remember that No More Deaths volunteer Dr. Scott Daniel Warren was arrested just hours after No More Deaths released a devastating report that included footage of Border Patrol agents trying to kill migrants by gleefully destroying some of the lifesaving jugs of water left by volunteers in the desert. The Justice Department tried not once, but twice to get him convicted on felony charges of harboring undocumented immigrants. It failed.
“[B]order Patrol harmed thirty people in irreparable ways,” he said in response to this latest raid. “On a daily basis those who migrate through the Arizona desert are targeted, terrorized, detained, and deported … [W]e 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.”
Data suggests that since the 1990s, more than 8,000 migrants have died crossing the border desert, where temperatures skyrocket into the triple digits. Footage released by the organization in 2018 showed a border patrol agent smiling at the camera as he poured out jugs of water one by one, saying “make sure you get a nice shot […] picking up this trash that somebody left on the trail.” In other footage, agents also appear to be smiling as one kicks over jug after jug of water meant to save lives. But it’s the humanitarian workers who got in trouble.
“The disproportionate legal action taken against No More Deaths and its volunteers exemplifies the deliberate cruelty of the Trump administration’s border policies,” Kreutter wrote. “Meanwhile, debates around free speech focus on minor disputes while ignoring a case with terrifying implications: the attempt, by government agents, to harass and intimidate a group speaking out against inhumane state policy.” Let’s repeat it again: Humanitarian aid is not a crime.
