Convicted for leaving water for migrants in the desert -- this is Trump's justice
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/convicted-for-leaving-water-for-migrants-in-the-desert--this-is-trumps-justice/2019/01/27/9d4b3104-2013-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.htmlConvicted for leaving water for migrants in the desert this is Trumps justice
By Editorial Board
January 27 at 6:08 PM
A FEW weeks ago, federal prosecutors in Arizona secured a conviction against four humanitarian aid workers who left water in the desert for migrants who might otherwise die of heat exposure and thirst. Separately, they dropped manslaughter charges against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who fired 16 times across the border, killing a teenage Mexican boy. The aid workers face a fine and up to six months in jail. The Border Patrol officer faces no further legal consequences.
That is a snapshot of twisted frontier justice in the age of Trump. Save a migrants life, and you risk becoming a political prisoner. Kill a Mexican teenager, and you walk free.
The four aid workers, all women, were volunteers in service to an organization, No More Deaths, whose religious views inform its mission to prevent undocumented migrants from dying during their perilous northward trek. They drove into the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, about 100 miles southwest of Phoenix, to leave water jugs along with some canned beans.
The women Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick made no effort to conceal their work. Confronted by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer, they said they believed everyone deserved access to basic survival needs. One of them, Ms. Orozco-McCormick, compared the wildlife refuge to a graveyard, such is the ubiquity of human remains there.
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge
underpants
(183,046 posts)I know you can do this with a pic but the rule of thumb I've always understood for water is bend over and look between you legs to get an idea of the true distance.
That's a serious hike to anything that hints of cover.
Igel
(35,390 posts)Well, teddy bear chollas, at least. I'd have them growing under every window if they'd grow here.
These folk, though, weren't convicted for helping "migrants."
They were convicted for entering a federal wildlife preserve without a permit, operating a vehicle off road, and "abandonment of property."
I get the first two. Regulations are there to protect the environment, and off-roading can wreak havoc on desert soil structures that may take centuries to recover. It's bad enough with people tramping around in there.
Still, I found that last one a bit obscure, but there it is: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/50/27.93
I suspect it's what you use when you catch people dumping their crap on protected federal land. Perhaps "littering," but since there's a word for that I'll understand it to mean larger things, not Twizzler packaging.
They weren't convicted for helping, per se.
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)I fail to see how leaving bottles of water is a crime. We all know that it takes hundreds of years for plastic to decompose, so how is this a crime ?