US President Joe Biden and members of the border authorities are showing extreme inhumanity to migrants thus putting them into cage in the sweltering Arizona desert.
According to shocking pictures released by the British newspaper Daily Mail, migrants are crammed onto narrow benches as they seek out shade to protect them from temperatures that are expected to hit 113 degrees.
The Daily Mail said, “Figures can be seen taking turns to stand in front of a giant fan at Ajo Border Patrol station”.
Team Biden said it is forced to cage the migrants due to a surge of more than 30 percent in border crossings in July.
Meanwhile, 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 Congresswoman 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.
But she definitely won’t do that as Democrats have championed the art of concealing their series of misdeeds.
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 Daily Mail 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. 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.
Migrant advocacy groups condemned the practice of caging arrivals but officials said they were forced to use outdoor facilities as they struggle to manage the surge.
The Biden administration introduced new restrictions in May to replace Title 42, a pandemic measure that allowed certain migrants to be turned away without claiming asylum.
The new system uses a mix of carrots and sticks. It allows more migrants to enter lawfully but with stiffer penalties for those who arrive illegally.
It includes a ‘transit ban,’ rejecting would-be asylum seekers who do not apply for refuge in countries along their route.
Officials say they are not to blame. Blame should instead lie with the human smugglers who are moving people through the desert and then dumping them at the border.
