Charity Worker Arrested, Facing 5 Years in Prison For Giving Starving Immigrants Food And Water

 

Humanitarian volunteer and college professor, Scott Warren, was  recently arrested by border patrol for giving immigrants food and water.  Warren was charged with two counts of harboring illegal aliens and one  count of conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens. 

If  convicted, he could face five years in prison. Suspiciously, this arrest happened just hours after border patrol was criticized by the organization that Warren works with, “No More Deaths.”  Among various outreach efforts that the group is involved in, they are  also known for leaving behind food and water for immigrants crossing the  border. 

Earlier this year, No More Deaths released a report showing that 3,856 gallons of water were destroyed by border agents over a four-year period. The report included video footage of border agents kicking over gallons of water and pouring them out. 

“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,” No More Deaths said in a press release.   

Just after the press conference when these videos were released,  Warren was arrested while providing two immigrants with food and water  at a safe house in the middle of the desert known as “The Barn.”  

Border patrol apparently had the safe house under surveillance and  decided to raid the location just hours after the press conference that  exposed their cruelty. 

“After finding their way to ‘the Barn,’ Warren met them outside  and gave them food and water for approximately three days. (One of the  migrants) said that Warren took care of them in ‘the Barn’ by giving  them food, water, beds and clean clothes,” the charges against Warren stated. Warren’s attorney, Bill Walker, pointed out that Warren’s only crime was helping people survive. “We don’t smuggle them, we don’t do anything to  help them enter the United States, we do nothing illegal. This place  that they raided is not in the middle of the desert, it’s not hidden  anywhere. It’s in the city of Ajo, and it’s been used for a long time,  not to help smuggle migrants, but to give medical care and food and  water,” Walker told AZCentral. 

Volunteer Caitlin Deighan said that the organization believes that  this arrest was in retaliation for speaking out against the harsh  practices of the border patrol. 

“It felt retaliatory in that it occurred less than eight hours  after our press conference releasing these findings that implicated  Border Patrol. But we can’t confirm that with certainty. We see an  escalation in the criminalization of humanitarian-aid workers, and  especially in the west desert part of Arizona, which sees almost half of  the recovered human remains that are found in Arizona. There’s a true  danger there, and it’s an extremely important place for us to do work,” Deighan said. 

A report last week from The Intercept detailed  how federal agencies have been building a case against the organization  for years, and revealed text messages that were sent between agents  during the raid Warren is not the first activist to get arrested for helping people survive the arduous journey across the border. 

In fact, eight other humanitarian workers, all from No More Deaths, are also facing similar charges from previous encounters with border patrol agents. There is a very legitimate need for organizations like No More Deaths  because, as their name implies, many people have lost their lives while  crossing the border. 

Attacking a group like this is the equivalent of  attacking a medic on a battlefield. 

While the true extent of the death toll is unknown, a report from USA Today found that well over 7,209 lives have been lost in the past 20 years. 

The report indicated that the actual number is likely far higher because “federal  authorities largely fail to count border crossers when their remains  are recovered by local authorities, and even local counts are often  incomplete.” 

An untold number of people lose their lives attempting to cross  borders in search of better lives or to reunite with family members and  loved ones who live on the other side.

Those who manage to survive the  trip must live in constant fear of being kidnapped and caged in  facilities that are even worse than prisons, before being dumped off in  the place they tried to escape—and this is if they are lucky. 

The arguments against an open immigration policy ignore this very  real human cost while instead focusing on imaginary scenarios, many of  which have been proven to be false. 

For example, a series of studies  have indicated that immigration does not increase crime and that  immigrants are actually far less likely to commit violent crimes than  native-born citizens. Another study revealed that increased levels of immigration do not increase terrorism. 

Meanwhile, it has been found that you are at least eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist. 

There are also plenty of faulty economic arguments leveled against an  open immigration policy, for those who are willing to trade another  person’s life for a few extra dollars on their balance sheet. 

However,  these claims have been shown to be baseless as well, since various  studies have indicated that immigration actually drives economic growth and that that undocumented residents pay billions in taxes. 

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

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My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans

I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.