Border Patrol Violates International Law, Raids Life-Saving Aid Camp on US-Mexico Border Cecelia Barrow - International Policy Digest
go to original June 23, 2017

Video footage of Border Patrol raid on No More Deaths humanitarian aid camp, deploying "military-style operation" to arrest individuals receiving medical aid (No More Deaths)

On June 15, in the Arizona border town of Arivaca, US Border Patrol officers raided a medical aid camp run by the humanitarian group No More Deaths (No Mas Muertas) & detained four immigrants receiving medical care at the camp, while putting many more in danger. The military style bust included a helicopter, 15 trucks, and 30 armed agents. This is a reversal of an informal policy under Obama that for years allowed the aid group to provide water, shelter, and medical attention to migrants crossing the desert border, which was a sweltering 100F at the time of the 6PM raid.

Migrants who are crossing the remote US-Mexico borderlands face extreme conditions in the desert, especially in the deadly hot summer, yet often avoid seeking urgent medical care for fear of deportation and imprisonment. Because of this, a trusted humanitarian-based aid station in the desert is essential for preserving migrant’s lives. The recent targeted raid on the No More Deaths medical aid camp is shameful in that it is breaking not only international law, but also the trust in this essential lifeline to migrants in the desert.

No More Deaths is located in southern Arizona, 15 miles from the US border, and formed in 2004 to provide aid to help end suffering and death on the US- Mexico borderlands. The work “embraces faith based principles” for immigration reform, and centers around the tenants of direct aid through the right to provide humanitarian assistance, witnessing and responding, raising awareness of the issues, global collaboration, and encouraging humane immigration policy.

Volunteers on the US side of the Chihuahuan Desert hike migrant trails and leave water, food, blankets, and other supplies. Through leadership by the medical team, volunteers provide emergency first-aid treatment to individuals that need it.

In Mexico, the group provides phone calls, supplies and first aid to people who have been deported from the US, and to people who are heading north to cross the border into the US. The group holds search parties in the desert for migrants who have gone missing, volunteers also document cases of abuse, mistreatment, and neglect by people in short-term Border Patrol custody and longer term immigrant detention. No More Deaths also runs a legal clinic in Tucson for community members who are facing deportation or are applying for status in the US, and works internationally with other immigration and human rights groups in resisting the militarization of the US-Mexico border.

There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis on the US-Mexico border that is a direct result of border enforcement policies. In 1994, Operation Gatekeeper provided for the building of a border wall in parts of Southern California and Arizona that pushed migration routes into hotter, more treacherous, and remote desert regions. These policies have, in effect, claimed the lives of over 7,000 people since 1998, according to No More Deaths and the Colibri Center for Human Rights.

Read the rest at International Policy Digest

Related: With Rising Temperatures, More Than 30 Have Died Trying to Cross the Border (Fronteras Desk)

Photo: No More Deaths

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