3 people arrested after Border Patrol raids No More Deaths camp in Az

Border Patrol agents raided the No More Deaths camp near Arivaca, Ariz., on Nov. 23 and arrested three people without a warrant to enter the private property, the humanitarian organization said Monday morning.

The group said the federal agents waited for an hour before entering the property, arguing they were in “hot pursuit” and did not need a warrant before they forced their way into at least one trailer, potentially violating the 4th Amendment.

Volunteers said that Sunday afternoon, agents parked outside the entrance to the Byrd Camp — a collection of military surplus tents, trailers, and shacks where volunteers work to provide water food and medicine to those crossing the desert, just a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Agents used their vehicle loudspeakers to announce “United States Border Patrol! Come out, Come out!” No More Deaths said the agents requested permission to enter the property, but were declined because they did not have a warrant. 

After about an hour, the agents returned and told the volunteers they could enter the camp, “citing an exception.”

“When pressed for a legal explanation, agents claimed they were in ‘hot pursuit’ and therefore did not need a warrant,” a No More Deaths spokesperson said. “This claim fails to meet the standard of ‘hot pursuit, which requires an immediate, continuous chase — not an hour of waiting.”

Three migrant men were taken away by BP agents, the group said.

Named for noted children’s author Byrd Baylor, the camp has been in operation since 2004, including more than a decade under a tenuous detente between humanitarian volunteers and Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector leadership. 

However, in 2017 – under the first Trump administration—this agreement collapsed when Border Patrol raided the camp, arresting four Mexican men. 

In 2020, the agency raided the camp again and arrested 30 people, in what the group called a “military-style raid” employing dozens of Border Patrol vehicles, including a Bearcat armored personnel carrier, ATVs and a Blackhawk helicopter orbiting over the desert.

No More Deaths criticized the raid at the time, calling it a “clear example of Border Patrol’s deadly pattern of interfering with humanitarian aid.”

However, while Border Patrol agents have previously entered Byrd Camp without a warrant, they have not searched its structures, which the group said “carry carry additional 4th Amendment protections.” 

“Past raids – once in 2017 and twice in 2020 – have been accompanied by a federal search warrant and a BORTAC team. This marks the first time agents have entered buildings without a warrant, marking a new escalation for the agency,” said No More Deaths. 

Video provided by No More Deaths to the Tucson Sentinel shows at least
three Border Patrol agents forcing their way into a trailer on the
property. Another video shows the agents walking at least two people out
of a trailer.

In preceding years, federal prosecutors have pursued charges against nine No More Deaths volunteers. 

That included the felony prosecution of No More Deaths volunteer Dr. Scott Warren, who was charged with two counts of harboring illegal aliens and one count of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens. However, a jury said it was unable to reach a decision on the charges, resulting in a mistrial. The government withdrew the conspiracy charge, and tried to charge Warren with two counts of harboring, but months later, in November 2019, a second jury refused to convict him. 

A federal judge tossed out the convictions of four NMD volunteers in January 2020, and that February prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge against Warren.

The November raid comes during a sustained drop in apprehensions across the U.S.-Mexico border, which began in June 2024 and has continued through the Trump administration. In October, agents encountered 30,573 people—a slight uptick from the  previous three months, but roughly a quarter of apprehensions from December 2024, the last month of the Biden administration, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The organization said this wasn’t an isolated incident, noting the agency’s tactics in large-scale operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlottesville. 

“All over the U.S., federal immigration agents have adopted increasingly unlawful and aggressive tactics,” the group said, noting that in Chicago Border Patrol agents made hundreds of warrantess arrests violating a consent decree.

Gregory Bovino, who declared himself the “CommanderOp at Large CA” —a title outside the usual command structure of CBP—has repeatedly declared Border Patrol agents can operate whenever they please.

“This is our fucking country,” Bovino told agents gathered around him in a parking lot, according to The Atlantic. “Nobody tells us where to go, when to go, how to go in our fucking country.”

During operations in Charlottesville, North Carolina he posted another clip with him referencing the children’s book “Charlotte’s Web”

“‘Wherever the wind takes us. High, low. Near, far. East, west. North, south. We take to the breeze, we go as we please.’” Bovino posted on social media.

“No More Deaths firmly denounces this continued pattern of impunity and attacks on immigrants all over the country,” the group said. “We affirm the right of all people — regardless of migration status – to receive humanitarian aid. In accordance with this vision, Byrd camp has always operated in accordance with protocols set by international humanitarian law.”