The humanitarian group No More Deaths says Border Patrol agents entered their aid camp along the U.S.-Mexico border and made arrests at the end of last month — marking the first time since 2020.
No More Deaths volunteers have for years offered aid to migrants traversing the Arizona borderlands at Byrd Camp, a collection of trailers and other structures that sit on a property in the middle of rugged desert terrain a few miles from the border.
Aryanna Tischler with No More Deaths says agents entered the site the Sunday before Thanksgiving. She said they didn’t have a warrant but they said they didn’t need one.
“At that point, the agents began breaking into our structures and began detaining people who were receiving humanitarian aid," Tischler said.
Tischler said three men were arrested by the agents.
No More Deaths did not not release additional details about those arrested, citing privacy concerns, but said they haven’t been able to locate them yet in ICE’s online search system for detainees.
According to a press release from the group, volunteers denied the agents’ request to enter the site because they weren’t presented with a warrant. They say agents eventually entered, citing an “exception.”
Tischler says agents told volunteers they were in “hot pursuit” of migrants inside the camp.
“The definition of hot pursuit is that they are actively in search and following someone to pursue them, because they believe that they've illegally entered the country, and with that they're allowed legally to follow someone into whatever structure it is that they believe they're in,” she said.
“It just doesn't make sense, because agents were waiting at the gate of the property for over an hour, whereas if they were really in hot pursuit, they would have followed the people that they apparently had seen enter our property immediately.”
Video taken by No More Deaths and reviewed by KJZZ shows Border Patrol agents with flashlights forcing open a door to a trailer and going inside. The camp was raided at least three times between 2017 and 2020, though Tischler says those were done using a federal search warrant.
“There’s been a handful of raids that have happened at Byrd Camp, but there’s been even more heightened surveillance and militarization around the area where we render aid. And I think that this just is like a very harrowing escalation,” she said.
Tischler said the camp is the only site for miles that provides potentially aid to migrants who have medical issues like dehydration and exhaustion, and the group worries people may stop seeking help there if raids continue.
By the time of publication, Customs and Border Protection did not responded to questions about the raid, those arrested, and whether agents had a warrant or other permission to enter the property.
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