(Daily Mail) The U.S. Border Patrol is holding migrants in an outdoor cage in the baking Arizona desert as officers try to cope with a fresh surge people in people crossing from Mexico.
DailyMail.com pictures show people crammed onto narrow benches as they seek out shade to protect them from the burning sun in a region where temperatures are expected to hit 113F at the weekend.
Figures can be seen taking it in turns to stand in front of a giant fan at Ajo Border Patrol station.
The site is in the remote desert, about two hours west of Tucson. The area is at the heart of a surge in migrant arrivals, undermining Biden administration hopes that its new immigration restrictions are having an impact.
And the increase marks a reversal of the normal pattern, when arrivals tail off amid the extreme heat of the summer.
Extraordinary images show migrants being held in an outdoor cage at Ajo Border Patrol station in southern Arizona where brutal daytime temperatures have been above 110F
They are kept beneath an awning that provides some shade but humanitarian groups are demanding an end to such ‘inhumane treatment’ amid a surge in arrivals from Mexico
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.
It is bad news for the Biden administration. The pictures of people held inside wire fences provide a visual echo of families caged under the Trump administration.
And it shows that its efforts to turn the tide, with a set of strict immigration measures, may provide only temporary respite for overstretched border services.
New Customs and Border Protection data reveal that July brought a jump in illegal crossings of more than 30 percent, reversing a decline since President Joe Biden overhauled immigration regulations.
C.B.P. recorded more than 130,000 arrests along border compared with 99,545 in June, according to a source close to Border Patrol.
The spike is greatest in southern Arizona in the region around Ajo. The Tucson sector recorded 40,000 arrests last month, making it the highest monthly total in 15 years. (The numbers were first reported by the Washington Post.)
That comes despite a record heatwave. Temperatures have been running at more than 105F for days.
Worse is to come. The National Weather Service has issued a severe heat warning with temperatures of up to 113F expected through Sunday.
Even so, migrants have been walking through the Sonoran Desert to reach the U.S. border.
Ajo Border Patrol Station is in a remote part of the Arizona desert. Sonic booms rip through the desert here as U.S.A.F jets make runs over a nearby bombing range
Ajo border station is about 28 miles from the border with Mexico. Migrants are brought here after being detained along the border before being moved on to other sites
Dozens of mostly men could be seen staying in the shade of the canopy on Wednesday morning after four large groups of migrants were found in the desert along the border
A source close to Border Patrol told DailyMail.com that several large groups 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.
That compares with an average of 800 a day in November last year, when the weather was gentler and numbers were high all along the border.
On Wednesday, the result was evident in the outdoor holding pen at Ajo station.
From a cactus-studded ridge overlooking the site, several dozen arrivals could be seen trying to shelter in the shade of a canopy waiting to be processed and bussed to facilities in Tucson or Yuma.
They moved deeper into the cage as the sun’s position shifted through the day.
Chris Clem, who retired recently as chief Border Patrol agent in Yuma to the west and who also served in Tucson sector, said the use of the outdoor overflow facility showed that the underlying problems had not been solved.
On Thursday morning, seven young men could be seen getting out of a van that arrived from the border. This area has seen the biggest surge in arrivals during the past month
A steady stream of processed migrants were loaded on to buses to be taken to Tucson or Yuma. Eventually they will be released with court dates far in the future
The number of arrivals dropped steeply in June but rose again by 30 percent in July, according to a source familiar with provisional Customs and Border Protection data
‘These people know there are zero consequence. If you cross illegally, you’re going to be processed and released,’ he 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?’
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.
Clem said cartels and smugglers had simply readjusted their methods to take account of new enforcement procedures. 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.
Donald Trump’s border wall runs for hundreds of miles through Arizona. However, a former senior Border Patrol officer told DailyMail.com that Tucson sector had seen resources moved to other parts of the border, which meant it was now being targeted by cartels
