Extending 'Zero Tolerance' To People Who Help Migrants Along The Border

Source: NPR

Extending 'Zero Tolerance' To People Who Help Migrants Along The Border

May 28, 2019 4:22 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
LORNE MATALON

Arrests of people for harboring, sheltering, leaving food and water or otherwise protecting migrants have been on the rise since 2017, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal prosecutors to prioritize cases covered under the harboring statute.

Scott Warren, a 36-year-old college geography instructor from Ajo, Ariz., works with a group called called No More Deaths or No Mas Muertes. The group's volunteers leave water and food for migrants traversing the Arizona desert.

Warren was arrested in 2017 and faces three felony counts including conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants. In its complaint, the government claims Warren was seen talking to two migrants who sheltered in Ajo. He denies being part of any sheltering plan.

"It is scary to be intimidated like this and to be targeted but there really is no choice," said Warren. He believes the government is violating his right to religious freedom by criminalizing his spiritual belief that mandates he help people in distress.

"For the government, it's kind of been an expansion of the interpretation of what it means to harbor," he suggested.

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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/05/28/725716169/extending-zero-tolerance-to-people-who-help-migrants-along-the-border