Border Patrol arrests 4 men at medical camp
PHOENIX (AP) – Border Patrol agents swept into a medical camp in the Arizona desert to capture four immigrants, an operation that volunteers on Friday called a “staged military siege” as the U.S. government has vowed a crackdown along the border with Mexico.
As a helicopter circled overhead, 15 trucks and about 30 agents, some armed with long rifles, swarmed into the camp run by No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, the organization said. The group provides refuge and water for migrants, said Catherine Gaffney, a longtime volunteer who was present during the arrests.
“The type of operation they are doing, for me, is unprecedented and there’s nothing routine about what they did. It wasn’t part of their dayto-day operation. It was a staged military siege on our camp,” Gaffney said.
Gaffney said a camp doctor asked the agency late Thursday morning for more time to treat the men, who had suffered from heat-related illnesses and needed an additional 24 hours of supervised care.
The Border Patrol said talks between agents and camp representatives on gaining access to question the men about their citizenship and legal status failed. The agency said in a news release Friday evening that it had no recourse but to obtain a search warrant.
Authorities said they had been monitoring the men since Tuesday, when they walked into the camp after spending several days in the desert in the scorching heat. Agents then stationed themselves outside, where they remained for the next two days, Gaffney said.
The enforcement action comes as President Donald Trump has made securing the border a top priority of his administration, including a signature campaign promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico.