wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Desert aid workers face felony charges for transporting

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8824 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05394
July 27, 2005

Feeling the heat 

Desert aid workers face felony charges for transporting border-crossers

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - A federal court battle is looming for two volunteers of a
church-related humanitarian aid group charged in Arizona with smuggling
illegal immigrants.

	Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz, both 23, face felony charges in
connection with their July 9 arrest 25 miles from the U.S.-Mexican border.
The two aid workers from the group No More Deaths were stopped by U.S. Border
Patrol agents near Arivaca, AZ, with three illegal immigrants in their
vehicle.

	If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison.

	Presbyterian church leaders in Arizona were instrumental in helping
form the Tucson, AZ-based No More Deaths movement. For the past two summers,
the group has provided food, water and basic medical care to illegal
immigrants crossing from Mexico into the United States through Arizona's
treacherous desert borderlands.

	The coalition receives strong leadership and support from various
Presbyterians, and from congregations such as Southside Presbyterian Church
in Tucson, which provides medical care to undocumented migrants injured in
the desert.

	Strauss and Sellz told the agents they were driving the three men to
see a doctor at the Southside church because the immigrants were vomiting
repeatedly and one was suffering from bloody diarrhea. The volunteers were
arrested under a federal statute making it a crime to transport illegal
entrants.

	"Community members are outraged by this shameless injustice of
arresting individuals while providing emergency aid," No More Deaths said in
a prepared statement. "People of conscience stand together in solidarity with
those arrested, insisting that these volunteers were following a
faith-inspired moral code of ethics."

	The undocumented border-crossers were found lost in the desert by
volunteers working from a migrant-aid camp operated by No More Deaths near
Arivaca, about 50 miles southwest of Tucson. Strauss and Sellz have
volunteered at the camp, also known as the "Ark of the Covenant," since the
project began last summer.

	The illegal immigrants they were transporting said they became ill
after drinking stagnant water in cow tanks.

	The Border Patrol maintains that the men were healthy and needed only
rest and water.

	Strauss and Sellz, who aren't Presbyterians, rejected a
government-offered plea agreement last week.

	A federal magistrate ordered both defendants to appear at an Aug. 2
videotaping of the deposition of the only border-crosser involved who remains
in the United States as a material witness. 
 
	If they are indicted, an arraignment hearing will be scheduled.

	The proposed plea agreement offered a dismissal of all charges in
exchange for an admission of guilt and a year on probation. 

	"We didn't accept it because they wanted us to admit guilt, and
that's something that we didn't want to do, because we didn't think we did
anything wrong," said Strauss, who graduated last year from Colorado College
in Colorado Springs. "We didn't think it should ever be illegal to save a
human life. I think it's outrageous that they are prosecuting a case like
this."

	Sellz, who attends San Juan College in Farmington, NM, said, "We
cannot stand by and watch others perish, and we can find no guilt in saving
another life."

	Sandy Raynor, a spokeswoman for the office of the U.S. Attorney, said
the government could not comment on the plea agreement because it was not
part of the public record.

	"Any statements that we have will be made in the venue of the
courtroom," she said.

	Strauss and Sellz were released from federal custody on July 11 as
more than 100 supporters packed a Tucson courtroom and a hallway outside.

	On July 22, a federal magistrate approved a prosecutor's request that
a misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting be dropped. Each is now charged
with one felony count of transporting an illegal immigrant.

	A blistering heat wave has left at least 56 people dead in the desert
since July 1, setting a pace likely to make this the deadliest month since
the bulk of migrant traffic shifted to the Arizona route about 10 years ago.
At least 198 people have died since Oct. 1, according to medical examiners
and the Border Patrol.

	Beth Sanders, media coordinator for No More Deaths, said the arrests
will not deter the group, adding that the incident has strengthened the
movement and increased solidarity among the members.

	The arrests came as tensions continued mounting between humanitarian
groups and new Tucson sector Border Patrol Chief Michael Nicley, who has
promised to crack down on anybody transporting illegal migrants for any
reason.

	Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said that if anyone comes
across illegal immigrants in need of medical attention, "the best thing to do
is call 911, rather than to take matters into their own hands." A severe
medical need is not an excuse for transporting an illegal immigrant, she told
the Presbyterian News Service.

	Aid groups had been told that it was legal to give immigrants food
and water, but "anytime you put illegal aliens in your vehicle and transport
them out of the area, you are committing a crime," Zortman said.

	The 261-mile-long stretch of border in the Tucson sector is the
nation's main corridor for illegal immigrants entering the United States.

	The spike in deaths there has raised the concern of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.). In 2003, the denomination's 215th General Assembly approved
an overture calling for measures to prevent migrant-worker deaths in the
borderlands.

     The measure, submitted by the Presbytery de Cristo, which represents 30
Presbyterian churches in southern Arizona and western New Mexico, calls on
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) to be in relationship with
congregations and middle governing bodies in the border areas to provide
appropriate ministries and assistance to migrants in life-threatening
situations. 

     In mid-April, the PC(USA) and the Synod of the Southwest sponsored a
three-day conference on the crisis titled "Death & Life on the Border."

     PDA provided $15,000 to the Synod of the Southwest to help finance the
conference, and the synod kicked in $12,000. PDA also has contributed $20,000
to the Presbytery de Cristo to support a number of border projects, including
No More Deaths. Money for the grants came from designated disaster funds and
from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

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