Border Patrol raids humanitarian group in southern Arizona

12 migrants and 7 volunteers taken into custody

PHOENIX, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The U.S. Border Patrol has once-again targeted a humanitarian group that provides water and medical assistance to migrants in the southern Arizona desert.

Agents executed a search warrant against "No More Deaths" Monday night at its compound near Arivaca. That's about 60-miles south of Tucson, along the U.S./Mexico Border.

They took 12 immigrants into custody. Agents also detained several volunteers for several hours, but did not charge them with any crime.

The Border Patrol says the faith-based volunteer group harbors illegal immigrants.

Immigration advocates say the raid fits a pattern of increasing hostility towards, and criminalization of, humanitarian aid work.

"No More Deaths" volunteer Scott Warren was arrested in a similar raid in 2018. Warren stood trial twice on federal charges of harboring illegal immigrants before a jury acquitted him in November of last year.