U.S. border patrol agents have been caught on camera vandalizing containers of water and other life-saving supplies placed for migrants, ensuring that they do not die of thirst in the Arizona desert (video below).
Per multiple humanitarian groups, water gallons were destroyed a staggering 415 times over the course of six months in 2015, affecting 3,586 gallons. Border agents also vandalized food and blankets left in the 800 square mile patch of desert.
“Through statistical analysis, video evidence, and personal experience, our team has uncovered a disturbing reality. In the majority of cases, US border patrol agents are responsible for the widespread interference with essential humanitarian efforts,” the humanitarian groups said.
“The practice of destruction of and interference with aid is not the deviant behavior of a few rogue border patrol agents, it is a systemic feature of enforcement practices in the borderlands,” they added.
Border Patrol spokesman Steve Passament said that the agency does not condone such behavior and promised to discipline agents caught committing these acts.
“We don’t want to see anyone out there die. We have to do our enforcement job and we do it as humanely as possible. We want to save lives,” he said.
While these heinous acts are certainly disappointing, they are not surprising in the Trump era. The President’s vile rhetoric has emboldened anti-immigrant crusaders to execute his backwards agenda with no regard for the very real, human consequences that result.
Trump’s legacy will be the destruction of human lives. Nothing more.
Report (including video evidence) shows that US border patrol routinely sabotages water left for migrants, condemning many people to die of thirst: https://t.co/m7TfZcm3sE pic.twitter.com/R4l8w1MkgH
— Ash J (@AshAgony) January 17, 2018
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