Volunteer arrested after giving food, water to undocumented immigrants in Arizona

[Tennis]

A volunteer for an Arizona group seeking to prevent migrant deaths in the desert at the U.S.-Mexico border was arrested after giving food and water to undocumented immigrants, according to court records.

Scott Daniel Warren, an instructor with Arizona State University and volunteer with the group No More Deaths, faces the federal charge of harboring or concealing two people in the country illegally, according to court documents.

Warren was arrested on Jan. 17 after allegedly giving two undocumented immigrants “food, water, beds, and clean clothes” in Ajo, Arizona, according to a criminal complaint.

Border Patrol agents were conducting surveillance on a building known as “the Barn” when they saw two people matching the descriptions of lost undocumented immigrants, according to the federal complaint.

The undocumented men said they researched the best methods for crossing the border and had received the address of “the Barn” as a place they could receive food and water, according to the complaint.

“After finding their way to ‘the Barn,’ Warren met them outside and gave them food and water for approximately three days,” according to the complaint.

Video shows border agents dumping water left for migrants


William Walker, Warren’s lawyer, said he has worked with No More Deaths for many years and there had always been an understanding between the group and law enforcement.

“We have always had an understanding here with both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Border Patrol and also the wilderness area managers that we are a neutral party,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “We don’t smuggle people, we don’t violate the law — what we do is we help to save lives and they’ve recognized that for years.”

He said that their group over time has faced some “periodic outbreaks of very minor charges” for putting out water jugs, but that those have “been dismissed right along for years without exception.”

Walker noted only one other case where two group volunteers were arrested in 2005, but that those felonies were thrown out by a federal judge. Two of the group’s volunteers were arrested after driving three immigrants from a desert location to a church in Tucson to receive medical attention from a doctor and nurse, according to The Associated Press. That indictment was eventually dismissed by a judge.

Warren was released on his own recognizance on Thursday, Walker said.

Carlos Diaz, Southwest Branch Chief for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Tuesday evening that Warren's arrest was a "legal law enforcement action" and it was "done properly." He added that while the courts will now decide the outcome, "this was done as part of our responsibility to protect the border."

Diaz also said that in June, Border Patrol raided a camp of the aid group in the Southern Arizona desert and arrested four people on immigration violations without incident.

A request for comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Jeff Reinhardt, a volunteer with No More Deaths, said the region where Warren was providing assistance is one of the “deadlier parts of the desert."

He added that 58 of the 128 sets of human remains of migrants found in Arizona in 2017 were found in that Ajo corridor.

“Scott has been instrumental in helping organize humanitarian aid in that region,” he said.

Warren’s arrest came hours after No More Deaths announced a report that implicated Border Patrol agents in destroying or tampering with gallons of water left out by the group at border crossings in videos spanning several years.

“We document how Border Patrol agents engage in the widespread vandalism of gallons of water left for border crossers and routinely interfere with other humanitarian-aid efforts in rugged and remote areas of the borderlands,” the group said in a press release.

Reinhardt said the group has “come to no conclusions about” the motivations behind Warren's arrest, but added “the timing is certainly suspect.”

Walker said it was “no mistake” that “within nine hours [of the report], they go out and arrest Scott Warren it the middle of the city of Ajo."

He said that “the Barn” was “not hidden out in the wilderness” and that Border Patrol knows about it.

“It’s a multi-use facility, it’s not just for migrants,” he said, adding that there are "various humanitarian groups that do all different kinds of humanitarian work" at that location.

He said he also believed the motivations could be political amid a surge of anti-immigrant sentiment.

“I think that there is a good amount of retribution to this and the big result of this will be that more people will die” along the border, he said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/...rizona-n840386

Wow this is shameful. He is trying to save a life and this is what happens?

[Deleted]

no idea who the immigrants are and what their intentions are. just eyewitness testimony which means nothing in a court of law.


stop getting in the way of police business and crying victim when they do their jobs.

[Tennis]

no idea who the immigrants are and what their intentions are. just eyewitness testimony which means nothing in a court of law.


stop getting in the way of police business and crying victim when they do their jobs.

Remember what it was like before everyone had a cellphone camera and could film everything?

[Sykol]

They're assisting illegals in breaking the law and should be punished accordingly. We don't need to make handouts the first thing someone sees when coming to a new country, especially when they're doing it the absolutely wrongest way possible.

[Machismo]

It seems like the border patrol wants to help people die of thirst and starvation, whilst arresting people who want to volunteer to feed others.

That seems pretty fucking authoritarian to me. Sadly, the dolts will be in here, cheering on the attempts to harm others via the government.

[Felrane]

Food and water no big deal. He should have reported them right away though.

[Machismo]

Finally, justice.

Yep, the anti-freedom authoritarians are trickling in.

[Sunseeker]

So they weren't just giving them food and drink. They were helping them cross the border illegally.

Appropriate charge is appropriate.

[Independent voter]

I don't like how easy it is for Mexicans, and it's like 99% Mexicans, to enter this country illegally.

But you can die in that part of the country without water, especially in the summer months. And a lot of illegal immigrants do die out in the desert.

[Super Kami Dende]

Well it is technically aiding and abetting a criminal. So why are people surprised they would be arrested?

[Machismo]

WOOO! LET THE IMMIGRANTS STARVE TO DEATH!

Now let's talk about those baby-killing DemocRATs!

#MAGA #Chooselife

That sounds about right.

[Pterodactylus]

It's because we are a Christian Nation, obviously.

[Allybeboba]

Somehow I bet there is more to this story than what is being reported.

Peace

[grandpab]

Fucking moron right wingers.

I thought your first post serious. It's hard to tell these days.

[Sykol]

Fucking moron right wingers.

Honestly, if you do it that way, you can make either side sound retarded. It would be like saying the left believed something atrocious like there are more than two genders. When you go that far-fetched, you can remove anybody's credibility.

[Sliske]

They're assisting illegals in breaking the law and should be punished accordingly. We don't need to make handouts the first thing someone sees when coming to a new country, especially when they're doing it the absolutely wrongest way possible.

Agreed. They also shouldn't look at a desert and say "if I go this way there will be no patrols and a bunch of cucks waiting in line to give us money, food and shelter"

How about these idiots help homeless people actually in the US, rather than try to help criminals thrive in the US?

[Tikaru]

Giving people food and water? THE AUDACITY!!!

[Steelcryo]

They knew about "the barn" long before his arrest so rather than arresting him, why haven't they just kept an eye on things and arrested any illegals going there? Providing water so someone doesn't die is fulfilling someones basic human right. He wasn't smuggling them, just making sure they didn't die when they arrived where he was. Frankly seems like a dick move by the government tbh

[Super Kami Dende]

WOOO! LET THE IMMIGRANTS STARVE TO DEATH!

Now let's talk about those baby-killing DemocRATs!

#MAGA #Chooselife

Can't you flip that to make the other side sound just as bad?

WOOO! Lets Feed/Clothe Criminals!

Now's lets talk about killing those unborn babies!

#Resist

It's why both sides are fucking morons.

I'm pro-choice and against Illegal immigration. If an Illegal immigrant dies in the Desert I chalk that one up to "it's their own damn fault".

[Realitytrembles]

Aiding & abetting?

F him.