A pair of Tucson-based groups have a new report that accuses the U.S. Border Patrol of leaving migrants in need of rescue to die in the Arizona desert.
The report by No More Deaths and the Coalición de Derechos Humanos has a variety of sources. But they do not include internal records from the Border Patrol.
Report authors wrote that in 63 % of the known emergency cases, they could find no evidence that Border Patrol tried to help undocumented people in crisis.
“What our findings show is that Border Patrol’s enforcement priority will always undermine the genuine provision of humanitarian assistance,” co-author Parker Deighan said during a Zoom call.
No More Deaths requested federal search and rescue records nearly two years ago, and the group just filed a lawsuit to get them.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection said it’s still committed to humanely securing the international boundary with Mexico. And the agency uses all its force to find those lost in the desert, while balancing its security mission.
