Border Patrol Violates Court Order in Arizona

Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept, Aug. 28, 2023

"The U.S. Border Patrol has been detaining asylum-seekers outdoors in a deadly corner of the Arizona desert for the better part of a year — significantly longer than was previously known — according to photos, video, and interviews conducted by The Intercept. The practice was one of several described by concerned officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency, who say that their agency is a flouting a federal court order mandating the humane treatment of migrants.  In July, amid a lethal and record-setting heatwave, The Intercept captured photos of roughly 50 migrants caged in an outdoor pen at the Border Patrol’s Ajo Station, deep in the Sonoran Desert two hours west of Tucson. The high temperature that day was 114 degrees. According to CBP officials who are based in the state and have direct knowledge of the situation, the caging was no isolated incident: Supervisors at the remote station have been using the pen, as well as other exposed areas, since at least last winter to detain large numbers of people in extreme cold as well as extreme heat.  “This has been going on for a long time,” one of the officials told The Intercept. “Management is forcing us to violate these things that they should have — basic human necessities.” "