Border patrol raids camp, arrests four men

Border Patrol agents raided a humanitarian aid camp in the Arizona desert Thursday, arresting four undocumented immigrants who were receiving medical treatment there, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.

The aid group No More Deaths said that about 30 agents and a helicopter appeared at the camp and apprehended four men, reportedly being treated for heat-related illnesses, according to ABC News.

“The type of operation they are doing, for me, is unprecedented and there’s nothing routine about what they did,” one volunteer Catherine Gaffney told ABC News. “It wasn’t part of their day-to-day operation. It was a staged military siege on our camp.”

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No More Deaths provides water and first aid to migrants. The men had reportedly spent several days in the desert before arriving at the camp, according to ABC News.

Gaffney said that a doctor at the camp had asked Customs and Border Protection on Thursday for more time to treat the men before they were apprehended. 

The agency, however, said that its agents had tracked the men to the camp with surveillance technology, and had no choice but to obtain a search warrant and raid the camp. 

“Initial efforts to resolve the situation were unsuccessful leaving no other recourse but to request a federal warrant to enter the camp and search for the suspected illegal aliens,” the agency said in a statement.

The men were “found in good health” by Border Patrol agents, but taken to a hospital as a “precautionary measure.” One of the men arrested, Lucindo Diaz-Hernandez, is a drug felon, according to Customs and Border Protection. 

As a candidate and since taking office, President Trump has made securing the U.S. southern border a key policy priority. In his first week in office, the president authorized the construction of his long-touted border wall and called for Customs and Border Protection to hire an additional 5,000 agents.