Despite three days of deliberations, an Arizona jury was unable to reach a verdict Tuesday on a border activist charged with conspiring to harbor and conceal people in the country illegally.
Scott Warren, a volunteer for the advocacy group No More Deaths, was arrested in January 2018 after allegedly giving food, water, and lodging to illegal immigrants. Warren would have faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Outside the courthouse, Warren thanked supporters and criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to curb illegal immigration. “Today it remains as necessary as ever for local residents and humanitarian aid volunteers to stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees,” as well as those “most threatened by the militarization of our borderland communities.”
While the prosecution argued that the immigrants Warren helped were not in medical distress, the defense argued that the charges were part of the Trump administration’s strategy to reduce immigration. The lead defense attorney for the case Gregory Kuykendall claimed that “[threatening] humanitarians with felonies and prison time for helping migrants” was part of the Trump administration’s strategy.
This case along with the rest of the charges to the No More Deaths group has caused worry among activists and humanitarian groups. This includes the United Nations, who wrote a statement “urging” authorities to drop the charges against Scott Warren saying that “providing humanitarian aid is not a crime.”
This comes with an increase in border crossings, which includes more than 3,000 deaths in the Arizona desert since 2000. Warren was one of nine members of No More Deaths to be charged with a crime although he is the only one to be charged with a felony. Warren also faces misdemeanor charges for violating wildlife regulations. No decision has been made regarding the misdemeanors.
