really makes ya proud to be an American eh?
Trump is despoiling what most us thought was a pretty decent country as the haters cheer him on, nice
The women were later charged with misdemeanor crimes. Prosecutors said they violated federal law by entering Cabeza Prieta, a protected 860,000-acre refuge, without a permit and leaving water and food there. A judge convicted them on Friday in the latest example of growing tension between aid workers and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Aid workers say their humanitarian efforts, motivated by a deep sense of right and wrong, have been criminalized during the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal border crossings. Federal officials say they were simply enforcing the law.
The four women, all volunteers for the Arizona-based aid group No More Deaths, were convicted after a three-day bench trial at a federal court in Tucson. They could face up to six months in federal prison.
Their trial coincided with a partial government shutdown that has now entered its 30th day, the longest in the country’s history. Negotiations have stalled as President Trump stands firm on his demand for $5.7 billion in border wall funding, citing a humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border.
[As Trump pushes for a wall, authorities keep finding drug tunnels under the U.S.-Mexico border]
In his verdict, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco said the women’s actions violated “the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature.” Velasco also said the women committed the crimes under the false belief that they would not be prosecuted and instead would simply be banned or fined.
Catherine Gaffney, a volunteer for No More Deaths, said the guilty verdict challenges all “people of conscience throughout the country.”
“If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal, what humanity is left in the law of this country?” she said in a statement.
The criminal charges stem from an incident on Aug. 13, 2017, when a federal wildlife canine officer found the women’s pickup truck near Charlie Bell Pass, a historic site at Cabeza Prieta. Inside were water jugs, canned beans and several similar items. The officer spotted the women a few hours later. They admitted leaving food and water at the site, according to court records.
[The border is tougher to cross than ever. But there’s still one way into America.]
Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick were charged in December 2017. They said their work for No More Deaths was motivated by their religious convictions and a belief that everyone should have access to basic survival needs, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors argued that the defendants should have been aware that leaving disposable items at the refuge is a punishable crime. During the trial last week, prosecutors said the women had admitted willingly violating federal law, the Arizona Republic reported.
In court documents, prosecutors pointed to a conversation between representatives of No More Deaths and a refuge manager who said officials prefer to use rescue beacons to help stranded migrants because they result in “actual rescues.” Rescue beacons are scattered across the area for migrants to activate if they need help, officials said.
No More Deaths said rescue beacons result in only a small number of rescues. The group also points to the number of migrants who have died trying to cross the vast desert terrain in the region. More than 3,000 migrant deaths have been reported between October 1999 and April 2018, according to data gathered by Humane Borders and the medical examiner’s office in Pima County, which covers part of Cabeza Prieta.
During the trial, one of the women, Orozco-McCormick, likened being on the refuge to being in a graveyard because of the number of migrants who have died there, the Arizona Republic reported.
The women are among several No More Deaths volunteers who are facing similar charges. Five others are scheduled for trial in February and March, the group said.
One of them, Scott Warren, is also accused of alien smuggling, a felony charge that No More Deaths claims was a retaliation for the group’s activism. Last year, the group published footage showing Border Patrol agents kicking over water jugs left in the desert. One agent was seen emptying a gallon of water onto the ground. Warren was arrested shortly after the footage was published.
A Border Patrol spokesman told The Washington Post earlier that the agency is not targeting the group and is simply enforcing immigration laws. Court records say Warren met with two Mexican natives at a building known as “the Barn,” in the town of Ajo, Ariz., near the Cabeza Prieta refuge, and gave them food and water.
Warren’s attorney, Bill Walker, told the Arizona Republic last year that his client’s intention was to give food and medical care, not to smuggle migrants into the country.
Amy B Wang contributed to this report.
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
really makes ya proud to be an American eh?
Trump is despoiling what most us thought was a pretty decent country as the haters cheer him on, nice
kudzu (01-21-2019)
Entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and littering is no joke, no matter their stupid reasons for doing so.
The anti-Trumper's new mantra:
“B-b-but muh White supremacy”
tinfoil (01-21-2019)
tinfoil (01-21-2019)
"2Timothy 3 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away"
tinfoil (01-21-2019)
Matthew 25: 31-46: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
ThatOwlWoman (01-21-2019)
Rune (01-22-2019)
Here we go again, the Covington story was proven to be bollox, why does anybody believe this is true?
tinfoil (01-21-2019)
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