Border Patrol has begun dropping off groups of migrant family units at small Arizona towns in the Sonoran desert without resources to receive them. A total of 54 migrants have been dropped off in Ajo, and dozens more in Gila Bend.
More than two dozen CBP officers in full riot gear blocked several northbound vehicle lanes at the port of entry in downtown Nogales. The officers were conducting a routine training exercise, but failed to notify anyone that they were doing so.
A broad coalition of environmental groups, civil rights activists, and Native American tribes released a report calling for the Biden administration to remove 59 miles of border wall in sensitive areas such as wildlife corridors, areas of natural beauty, and sites with tribal significance.
The Biden administration has asked contractors to submit bids for maintenance on “tactical infrastructure” in the Tucson sector, which includes concertina wire in Nogales put up during the Trump administration.
No More Deaths and Coalición de Derechos Humanos, two Arizona-based humanitarian groups, released an extensive report condemning Border Patrol for its emergency response efforts on the border. The report details negligence, hostility, and outright discrimination on the part of Border Patrol over the past 20 years and recommends the end of the agency’s predominant role in search and rescue.
Published by Bellingcat on October 1, 2020.
Using open-source data and imagery tools, this study documents how border wall construction is harming a fragile desert oasis in a southern Arizona protected area.
Published by The Intercept on September 5, 2020.
How the pandemic and the Trump administration’s crackdown on asylum are being experienced in southern Arizona.
Caption: “Border Patrol also stabbed all of the gallons in the back of a truck that was at Byrd Camp during the raid on Friday. Attacks on our work are attacks on people crossing the border. Irreparable damage was done to the people who sought aid in our camp.”
Caption: “One volunteer was able to get a few pictures from inside camp when BORTAC and Border Patrol entered. Heavily armed agents drove straight into the humanitarian aid camp in a Bearcat tank as helicopters circled overhead.”
Caption: “Border Patrol also brought a cameraman. He filmed the scene as agents chased and arrested people who had sought out humanitarian aid and respite from the 100 degree heat. More photos and footage exist, but phones are still in custody.”
Caption: “Border Patrol and BORTAC arrested people receiving care and ransacked the humanitarian aid station, ripping apart tents and destroying medical supplies. This morning during clean up, volunteers also saw that agents had disconnected the power to the well, the only water source on the property of the remote desert camp.”
Caption: “Over the past five days Tucson Sector #BorderPatrol Agents rescued more than 30 people from 911 calls and rescue beacon activations. I strongly encourage anyone to call 911 if thay find themselves lost or in danger in the desert.”
Published by The Arizona Daily Star on July 19, 2020.
As Arizona coronavirus cases soar, the state’s extensive border wall system was irrelevant to stopping its spread.
Published by The New Yorker on July 8, 2020.
A documentary about Scott Warren, an Arizona professor who was arrested and charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and harboring after providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the desert.
Caption: “Yesterday temperatures across Southern Arizona peaked above 110 degrees. Tucson Sector #BorderPatrol Agents rescued 10 people in a 24 hour period – some required life flights for their injuries.”
Caption: “Shoe-Smuggler. #BorderPatrol Agents arrested a 19-year-old man for smuggling fentanyl pills in the soles of his shoes last Friday. Fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to @DEAHQ.”
Caption: “More meth. An eagle-eyed #BorderPatrol Agent spotted these two bottles of liquid meth hidden alongside a dirt road near El Camino Del Diablo, west of Ajo, #Arizona late Friday. Dangerous stuff.”
Caption: “#Tucson Sector #BorderPatrol Agents arrested 2 smugglers and seized more than 150 pounds of meth, fentanyl, and heroin in three separate seizures last weekend. Thanks to the Agents’ hard work for keeping drugs off the streets.”
Caption: “Yesterday evening Agents arrested two U.S. citizens smuggling three undocumented immigrants in the trunk of a vehicle with temperatures outside near 100 degrees. Zero regard for human life.”
Caption in Spanish: “The coyotes don’t care about you. They just want your money. They abandon people. Don’t die in the desert. Don’t cross illegally.”