Federal border officials are sending additional resources to the Ajo Border Patrol Station in Arizona’s Tucson border sector, citing increased border crossings and smuggling activity in the remote area.
“The Border Patrol has surged personnel and transportation resources to respond to the increase in encounters in the area — some of the hottest, most isolated, and dangerous area of the southwest border — where individuals have been callously sent by smuggling organizations to walk for miles, often with little or no water,” a spokesperson with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told NTD News in an emailed statement.
CBP said they’ve felt the need for more resources as large numbers of illegal immigrants have attempted crossings into what the agency called a “dangerous, desolate” area of the border. The Ajo station area is located more than 100 miles by road from the city of Tucson in a sparsely populated desert area. Adding to the risk in this remote area, temperatures exceeded 100 degrees F every single day in July.
According to CBP data, Border Patrol encounters with illegal border crossers stood at around 23,500 in February, before jumping to around 34,000 in March and again in April, before dropping down to 24,360 in June. CBP doesn’t track encounters with illegal border crossers by individual stations and while border crossings across the entire Tucson sector fell in May and June, border officials believe a large portion of the border traffic is being diverted to the remote Ajo area.
Human smuggling organizations are believed to be moving people through the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Rescue and the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument; locations with little infrastructure, rough roads, and virtually no water or shade. The shift in human smuggling behavior coincides with a persistent heatwave.
When Border Patrol agents at the Ajo station receive calls about these illegal and dangerous crossings, they respond quickly to ensure people are removed from the desert environment and quickly receive food, water, and medical care when necessary. Despite their efforts, local border officials are not used to the influx of cross-border traffic in the Ajo area, and some border crossers have had to wait in an outdoor overflow while being processed.
“Border Patrol has utilized outdoor shaded areas only when necessary and for very short times while they await onward transportation to larger facilities,” the CBP spokesperson said of the waiting area. “The Ajo Border Patrol Station is not equipped to hold large number of migrants due to historic trends in this area.”
Last week, the Daily Mail published photos purporting to show the outdoor space, which consists of a fenced-in large white awning on a gravel plot next to the Border Patrol station parking lot.
“There have been no deaths of persons rescued by the Border Patrol on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge or the Organ Pipe Cantus National Monument since the beginning of the heat wave and the increase in migrant crossings in Ajo Station’s area,” the CBP spokesperson said. “Additionally, there have been no major medical emergencies due to the heat once migrants are taken into custody in the field, at the station, or at the outdoor facility.”
The CBP spokesperson reported that through their surge efforts, border officials at the Ajo station have “significantly reduced time in custody.” Processing times now stand at around 15 hours on average.