Volunteers are pitching in to protect the rights of immigrants they say are tormented by guards working for the U.S. Border Patrol.
Members of No More Deaths, an Arizona-based immigration-rights group, spent last week interviewing people the Border Patrol deported to Nogales, Mexico.
The volunteers said they heard hundreds of stories of human-rights violations.
Maryada Vallet, a volunteer with the group, said the abuses included denying people food and water, verbally berating them and making them sign documents in English, even if they don't understand the language.
"We know that with every busload of people, we're going to find cases of abuse," she said.
Vallet said that during her time in Nogales, everyone she met who was held by the Border Patrol was subjected to abuse of some kind.
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"Maybe it's just a matter of not receiving sufficient water, but if you've been in the desert for three days and your kidneys are already about to fail, (during) that 24 hours at the Border Patrol ... it's really important that they get water."
Mike Scioli, a Border Patrol agent in Arizona, said agents must swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and that all Border Patrol agents are careful to respect that oath.
He said almost every Border Patrol vehicle carries water and that detainees always receive food or water if they need it.
"The most amazing thing I've seen is agents even give up their own food to people in custody," he said.
Beth Eastman, a volunteer for No More Deaths, said many of the people she spoke with had been forced to sign documents in English that they did not understand and were cursed at, laughed at or otherwise verbally abused by the Border Patrol.
"There are some pretty common stories that once people are apprehended by the Border Patrol, there is a general air of disrespect toward them," she said.
Eastman said one man she spoke to said he had been stripped naked and laughed at by Border Patrol agents.
"He suspected that maybe they thought he was maybe someone else, and they asked him to take off all of his clothing, and he proceeded to stand there nude in front of them while they pointed and laughed at him," she said.
Eastman said the Border Patrol often does not explain to people that they have the right to help from the Mexican consulate or inform them of their basic rights.
Maria Tirado, who volunteered in Nogales last week, said the Border Patrol routinely denies people other basic amenities.
"They didn't have beds. They slept on the floor," she said. "It was this air of intimidation, a lot of them told us. Like they couldn't ask for nothing, you know, medical care. If they asked for food - 'Oh, this is not a hotel. Wait until you get to Mexico.'"
Scioli said the Border Patrol treats people in its custody humanely and takes detainees' medical needs seriously.
"As Border Patrol agents, we wear three hats: law enforcement, rescuer and humanitarian," he said.
