Biden has migrants in outdoor cage in Arizona desert

FPI / August 6, 2023

Team Biden border authorities are holding migrants in an outdoor cage in the sweltering Arizona desert, a report said.

DailyMail.com on Friday posted photos of migrants crammed onto narrow benches as they seek out shade to protect them from temperatures that are expected to hit 113 degrees.

"Figures can be seen taking turns to stand in front of a giant fan at Ajo Border Patrol station," the report noted.

Team Biden said it is forced to cage the migrants due to a surge of more than 30 percent in border crossings in July.

Customs and Border Protection data show more than 130,000 arrests along border in July compared with 99,545 in June.

Ajo Samaritans, who provide humanitarian aid along the border, demanded an immediate end to Team Biden's caging of migrants: "We are absolutely horrified to learn that migrants who have been detained at the Ajo Border Patrol station are being caged outdoors in the life-threatening heat, reportedly due to a lack of space. Temperatures have consistently topped 110 degrees over the past several weeks. Even the stop-gap measures such as fans and canopies are inadequate to protect their health and safety. This inhumane treatment of migrants is a violation of their basic human rights and must end immediately."

Some observers wondered if Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be paying a visit to the border to protest the Biden administration keeping migrants in cages. AOC did just that in 2018 in protest of Trump administration policies.

The current border surge is being felt heavily in southern Arizona in the region around Ajo. The Tucson sector recorded 40,000 arrests last month.

A source close to Border Patrol told DailyMail.com that several large groups of migrants had arrived on Tuesday night. At least 600 people were detained in the Ajo area and the whole Tucson sector saw 1,900 encounters on that day alone.

Chris Clem, who retired recently as chief Border Patrol agent in Yuma, said the use of the outdoor overflow facility showed that the underlying problems had not been solved.

"These people know there are zero consequence. If you cross illegally, you're going to be processed and released," Clem said. "And so there's nothing to deter them. The administration will tell you all day long they're putting them in removal proceedings, but we know that those proceedings are years down the road so what are the consequence for coming across illegally?"

Clem said cartels and smugglers had simply readjusted their methods to take account of new enforcement procedures which came after Team Biden eliminated Title 42, which allowed for thousands of migrants to be turned away without claiming asylum. That meant shifting attention from areas around Yuma and hot spots in Texas, which were subject to intense scrutiny earlier this year, to focus on Tucson.

Free Press International
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