Border Patrol

July 7

My first encounter with the Border Patrol happened on July 7. We were driving up to Poso Verse, a mountainous area close to the border with Mexico. In fact you can see the fence that separates the two countries from a certain distance. The terrain is extremely beautiful. There are cactuses of all shapes and sizes staring down at you and a variety of plants. The jeep goes up and comes down some very high hills.

Border Patrol cars and trucks are present every few kilometres and one of them pulls us over. An elderly officer, decked out in his green uniform, asks us what we are doing here. J, who is behind the wheel, answers that we are No More Deaths and we are going out to provide food, water and medical aid to migrants. The officer looks at us, smiles, and wishes us all the best. He tells us we are doing a good thing, and to be careful out there because it is hot. We go on our way.

Not every BP officer is opposed to us or the work we do, and some sympathize with the migrants. It needs to be remembered that in most cases, severely sick migrants who are on the verge of death are given medical aid by the officers who find them. There is a special medical team called BORSTAR who does rescues in the desert and helps people in some very bad situations. There are agents who deny arrested people food and water, there are others who will provide it to them. I have read and believe firmly that there are agents who provide these people their personal water and food sometimes.
One of our NMD volunteers shared a story about a time when their group asked a Border Patrol officer who was guarding several arrested migrants if they could be given food. “Yeah!” the agent yelled, “we’re not all assholes!”

However, I have also heard other stories.

There are many allegations of abuses of migrants by BP during arrest and in detention centres. Beatings, people being pulled by their hair, water bottles being taken away from dehydrated and exhausted people who are then not provided with food or drink for several hours after being detained, racial epiphets, money being stolen, other treatment that is outright criminal and being committed against people who for the most part have not harmed anyone and are innocent of any wrongdoing. A report documenting abuses of migrants by American Law Enforcement agencies (that include also ICE- Immigration Customs and Enforcement and Fish and Wildlife) contains about 12,000 interviews. It is coming out sometime in September and will be on the NMD site. The abuses took place between 2008 and 2011. Other reports come from human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and other groups. Mistreatment and abuse of detained migrants by BP is a very real issue.

NMD volunteers who were harassed and followed around by the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies; the week before we came they flew a copter and kept it hovering above the camp at night. BP officers have stopped volunteers in the past and poured out the water bottles that would have been used to give to dehydrated people. A tape was made of that, and we have watched it at the convent. It has yet to be edited and posted on the site. I will let you know when that happens. A few days after our cordial encounter, an NMD group was ticketed $300 for leaving water jugs for migrants.

I feel for the Border Patrol. They have been given the duty of enforcing an inhuman immigration policy that drives people into the desert to face death, and the government they are working for engages in trade agreements that force millions to make such a desperate crossing. They also have to criminalize people who for the most part are not criminals in any sense of the word, anyone whose family was in their situation would do the same thing they are if there were no other options. On the other hand, it is also true that among the migrants there are also some people who are criminals and there have been firefights between BP agents and drug dealers. Some agents have died in the field, including one this year. Tragic as this is, it does not even begin to compare to the hundreds of migrant deaths and is no excuse for the abuse that goes on and seems to be very widespread.

I pray God changes the hearts of those who are in charge of trade and immigration policies, and that He gives courage to men and women in BP to refuse to follow orders and implement policies that harm desperate people. I also pray for their safety and the safety of everyone else in that area- in particular of the migrants who fall into their hands.


Department of Homeland Security, also by Tucson airport.


Border Patrol car. I took this photo at the airport, soon after landing in Tucson.


Border Patrol checkpoint. This one is officially marked and set up, in many cases they consist of a BP car or van by the side of a highway. Sorry for the blurry quality.