The Border Patrol arrested four undocumented border-crossers receiving medical attention at a humanitarian-aid station on Thursday evening, breaking with years of precedent.
A helicopter, 15 trucks, two quadrant vehicles and 30 armed agents descended on the medical-aid station, search warrants in hand, after tracking a group of migrants for 18 miles, according to the humanitarian-aid group, No More Deaths, which runs the humanitarian-aid station in Arivaca, Arizona, less than 15 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border.
“Right now, the No More Deaths humanitarian-aid station is not a place that is safe to provide humanitarian aid,” said Eva Lewis, volunteer with NMD. “There’s a lot of people in dire medical need who are coming through the desert, and it’s really important that those people have a place to seek medical aid without fear of incarceration and/or fear of deportation.”
The Pima County Medical Examiner has received 2,615 sets of human remains from 2001 through 2016 recovered in the Tucson Sector border region. Historically, the number of deaths peak during June and July due to extreme heat. In 2016, 31 percent of human remains were recovered during these hotter months.
Humanitarian groups along the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border say the total number of deaths is around 7,000 since border policy toughened in 1998.
According to NMD, the group has had an unsigned written agreement with the Tucson Sector Border Patrol since 2013, with the federal agency pledging to not to interfere with the humanitarian camp that provides life-saving medical treatment to many migrants every year.
In the agreement, BP agreed to “respect the NMD camp as a medical facility under the international Red Cross standards, which prohibit government interference with humanitarian aid centers,” wrote John Fife, one of NMD’s founders, in a statement released on Facebook last night.
The Red Cross’ code of conduct, referred to in the agreement reads: “The right to receive humanitarian assistance, and to offer it, is a fundamental humanitarian principle which should be enjoyed by all citizens of all countries. As members of the international community, we recognize our obligation to provide humanitarian assistance wherever it is needed.”
The statement also reads that governments should recognize and respect the actions of humanitarian aid agencies.
“This was a targeted attack on humanitarian aid,” Lewis said. “This was an attempt to intimidate and prevent the camp from being able to function in a humanitarian role.”
At the time of the arrests, the migrants had been assessed by doctors and were receiving medical treatment from emergency medical technicians.
“They were people who had been walking in the desert and were in bad medical shape and needed continued medical care,” Lewis said.
Border Patrol agents began surveilling the humanitarian-aid camp on Tuesday afternoon. According to No More Deaths, agents set up a sensor and a camera close to the camp’s entrance as well as a temporary checkpoint where they were asking people leaving the camp about their citizenship status.
The group says the Border Patrol’s actions follows an increase in surveillance of humanitarian-aid groups over the past few months. Last month, Border Patrol arrested eight migrants from the humanitarian-aid camp.
Border Patrol put out a statement on Twitter saying those arrests were made through “successful negotiations” and “without incident.” The difference between the two events is that in the first incident, the people chose to go into custody.
“Sometimes people choose to go into custody for a variety of reasons,” Lewis said. “We just try to provide people with information, and then people make their own choices.”
It is not currently clear how the medical-aid camp will continue, but NMD is continuing to provide humanitarian aid.
“We’re going to continue in our mission to end deaths and suffering in the desert,” Lewis said.
For 13 years, NMD has worked to provide food, water and medical care to migrants crossing the desert of the Arizona-Mexico border.
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2017.
Once they receive aid, how are they processed? If they allow them to travel on to the north illegally they should be held responsible for their death. This is insanity.
“According to NMD, the group has had an unsigned written agreement with the Tucson Sector Border Patrol since 2013, with the federal agency pledging to not to interfere with the humanitarian camp that provides life-saving medical treatment to many migrants every year.”
I find it hard to believe that anyone in authority at the Border Patrol would enter into any agreement — signed/unsigned or verbal — that is contrary to the rules, regulations and laws governing the agency’s operations.
As for providing humanitarian aid, which is more humane: Providing an empty hope that those making this deadly journey will somehow reach their destination unscathed, or saving lives and returning people who have freely chosen to violate the law and borders of the United States.
It sounds like the ultimate goal is to provide medical assistance to those in need so they can continue on and break our laws. What do they do when an entrant is near death, fly them to a Tucson hospital? The liability exposure is phenomenal.BP saves lives and gets no credit.
The border agents did the job they were hired to do. The Red Cross did the job they volunteered to do.
What is the problem? If the people coming over the border want to enter without harassment, they need get the paperwork completed and walk through the border gate. I love immigrants, I do not like people that break the laws, including you people that speed on the freeway. If you are caught drunk driving, you go to jail. If you break into a person’s house you either go to jail or get shot. If you break into the USA, you go to jail and get deported or get shot. What is the problem?
The “ultimate goal” is to try to save human beings.
Makes sense to me, why would BP not be there every day?
Our illustrious leader could tweet to his Republican sycophants that he wants a bill on his desk that states anyone who offers aid and comfort to ANY undocumented person regardless of whether that person is gravely ill or not will be prosecuted for breaking the law and incarcerated.
Stay safe and hydrated out there. Thank you for keeping our border safe.