No More Deaths

TRIAL RAISES ISSUES OF HUMANITARIAN AID TO BORDER CROSSERS



By Miriam Raftery



December 14, 2009 (San Diego) – In Tucson, Arizona on December 4, a federal judge ordered a theology student to reconsider his refusal to accept community service as a sentence for leaving water jugs for migrants crossing the border in an area where hundreds of border crossers have died in the past year alone. Walt Staton was convicted of littering by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He plans to appeal his conviction.

 

But the judge warned, if Staton refuses to accept his sentence(which included community service, a year of supervised probation and a one year ban on entering the federal wildlife refuge where he left water jugs), he could be fined $100,000 and spend up to a year in prison, the Arizona Daily Wildcat reported.


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