Border Patrol is caging migrants outdoors during a deadly Arizona heatwave
Texas troopers told to push back migrants into Rio Grande and ordered not to give water amid soaring temperatures, report says
The U.S. Border Patrol is holding migrants in an outdoor pen in a deadly stretch of the Arizona desert amid a record-setting heatwave, photos taken by The Intercept reveal.

On Thursday afternoon, The Intercept observed roughly 50 migrants confined in a chain-link pen at the Ajo Border Patrol station, a highly remote outpost two hours west of Tucson. From a ridge overlooking the Border Patrol’s facility, the migrants could be seen gathered under a carport-like structure, crowding themselves into a single, narrow strip of shade to escape the desert sun. The only furniture available was a short stack of metal bleachers baking in the extreme heat.

Just one day earlier, Tucson set a new record with 11 consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 111 degrees. The unincorporated community of Ajo and surrounding areas have been even hotter, with Thursday’s high hitting 114 degrees.
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Democratic lawmakers slam lack of attorney access for asylum-seekers in Border Patrol custody
Dozens of Democratic members of Congress asked the Biden administration Tuesday to end expedited screening of asylum-seekers in Border Patrol custody, calling it a “rushed practice” that has allowed little access to legal counsel.

As the administration prepared to launch speedy screenings at Border Patrol holding facilities this spring, authorities pledged access to counsel would be a key difference from a Trump-era version of the policy. So far, that promise appears unfulfilled.

A coterie of involved attorneys estimated that perhaps 100 migrants secured formal representation in the first three months of the policy, The Associated Press reported last month, and only hundreds more have received informal advice through one-time phone calls ahead of the expedited screenings. That represents a mere fraction of the thousands of expedited screenings since early April, though authorities have not provided a precise count.
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