CYA
Group: New rules on aiding migrants
No transport of ill entrants; 911, authorities to be called
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Desert aid workers who come across gravely ill migrants must call 911 and the U.S. Border Patrol rather than taking them to get medical help, according to new protocol for the local No More Deaths group.
The group has been in the public eye since two of its volunteers were arrested last summer for transporting two ill migrants to a church medical clinic.
Unless they are doctors or nurses, volunteers from No More Deaths are not authorized to put an illegal migrant in their vehicle, said Margo Cowan, legal counsel for the faith-based No More Deaths group.
Operating on the biblical premise of welcoming the stranger, No More Deaths gives food, water and medical help to illegal entrants who continue to cross the border from Mexico into the United States by foot in spite of a toll of deaths each summer from heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Last summer, men, women and children crossing through Southern Arizona borderlands were dying at a rate of nearly one per day.
Cowan released the new volunteer protocol Sunday during a training attended by about 85 people at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Midtown. Two No More Deaths volunteers - Shanti A. Sellz and Daniel M. Strauss , both 24 - will go on trial Oct. 3 on charges that they violated federal immigration law as they took three illegal migrants in Sellz's car to a medical clinic at a Tucson church last July 9.
Sellz and Strauss, who both face prison time if they are convicted, followed the protocol they'd been taught by No More Deaths last summer, checking with a lawyer and a doctor by telephone before they began driving the migrants, whom they described as being severely dehydrated and ill from drinking contaminated water. The pair did not call 911 or the U.S. Border Patrol, as that was not part of the protocol they'd been taught.
That scenario will not repeat itself this summer, Cowan emphasized Sunday. Rather than transporting ill migrants to a clinic, Cowan instructed volunteers to call 911 and the U.S. Border Patrol. If that doesn't work, a licensed medical professional must be physically present and determine the migrant needs to be transported. And in that case, the U.S. Border Patrol must be notified of the route, she said.
The new medical protocol for No More Deaths volunteers is part of a draft agreement the group has written, though the agreement has not been approved by Michael Nicley, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
Two representatives from the U.S. Border Patrol - Lisa Reed and supervising agent Larry Bailey - attended Sunday's training and stressed that any transportation of migrants could be interpreted as illegal. Reed said it's up to the U.S. Attorney's Office ultimately to decide who gets prosecuted for violating immigration law.
But the Border Patrol and No More Deaths are making an effort to work more cooperatively this summer. Nicley has agreed to assign a liaison from his office for the desert volunteers, and his agents will continue to attend volunteer training sessions. Cowan and others at Sunday's meeting emphasized that the Border Patrol didn't write U.S. immigration policy and should not be blamed for it.
Sellz and Strauss have been charged with conspiracy to transport and transportation of an illegal alien, which is a violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code. The law says it's a violation of immigration law to transport an illegal immigrant, "in furtherance of" their illegal status in the United States.
Though lawyers for Sellz and Strauss have repeatedly said the young workers were transporting for the purpose of giving medical assistance rather than helping the migrants enter the United States illegally - spawning a campaign called Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime - the No More Deaths group does not want to risk any more arrests this summer, Cowan said.
About 500 people are expected to volunteer with the No More Deaths coalition this summer. It is one of at least four Arizona groups that gives aid to illegal migrants in distress during the summer months. The group's protocol does not require volunteers to call the Border Patrol if they encounter illegal entrants who are not in medical distress. Rather, the volunteers give them food, water and minor first aid, and then leave them to continue on their journey.
No transport of ill entrants; 911, authorities to be called
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Desert aid workers who come across gravely ill migrants must call 911 and the U.S. Border Patrol rather than taking them to get medical help, according to new protocol for the local No More Deaths group.
The group has been in the public eye since two of its volunteers were arrested last summer for transporting two ill migrants to a church medical clinic.
Unless they are doctors or nurses, volunteers from No More Deaths are not authorized to put an illegal migrant in their vehicle, said Margo Cowan, legal counsel for the faith-based No More Deaths group.
Operating on the biblical premise of welcoming the stranger, No More Deaths gives food, water and medical help to illegal entrants who continue to cross the border from Mexico into the United States by foot in spite of a toll of deaths each summer from heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Last summer, men, women and children crossing through Southern Arizona borderlands were dying at a rate of nearly one per day.
Cowan released the new volunteer protocol Sunday during a training attended by about 85 people at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Midtown. Two No More Deaths volunteers - Shanti A. Sellz and Daniel M. Strauss , both 24 - will go on trial Oct. 3 on charges that they violated federal immigration law as they took three illegal migrants in Sellz's car to a medical clinic at a Tucson church last July 9.
Sellz and Strauss, who both face prison time if they are convicted, followed the protocol they'd been taught by No More Deaths last summer, checking with a lawyer and a doctor by telephone before they began driving the migrants, whom they described as being severely dehydrated and ill from drinking contaminated water. The pair did not call 911 or the U.S. Border Patrol, as that was not part of the protocol they'd been taught.
That scenario will not repeat itself this summer, Cowan emphasized Sunday. Rather than transporting ill migrants to a clinic, Cowan instructed volunteers to call 911 and the U.S. Border Patrol. If that doesn't work, a licensed medical professional must be physically present and determine the migrant needs to be transported. And in that case, the U.S. Border Patrol must be notified of the route, she said.
The new medical protocol for No More Deaths volunteers is part of a draft agreement the group has written, though the agreement has not been approved by Michael Nicley, chief of the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
Two representatives from the U.S. Border Patrol - Lisa Reed and supervising agent Larry Bailey - attended Sunday's training and stressed that any transportation of migrants could be interpreted as illegal. Reed said it's up to the U.S. Attorney's Office ultimately to decide who gets prosecuted for violating immigration law.
But the Border Patrol and No More Deaths are making an effort to work more cooperatively this summer. Nicley has agreed to assign a liaison from his office for the desert volunteers, and his agents will continue to attend volunteer training sessions. Cowan and others at Sunday's meeting emphasized that the Border Patrol didn't write U.S. immigration policy and should not be blamed for it.
Sellz and Strauss have been charged with conspiracy to transport and transportation of an illegal alien, which is a violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code. The law says it's a violation of immigration law to transport an illegal immigrant, "in furtherance of" their illegal status in the United States.
Though lawyers for Sellz and Strauss have repeatedly said the young workers were transporting for the purpose of giving medical assistance rather than helping the migrants enter the United States illegally - spawning a campaign called Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime - the No More Deaths group does not want to risk any more arrests this summer, Cowan said.
About 500 people are expected to volunteer with the No More Deaths coalition this summer. It is one of at least four Arizona groups that gives aid to illegal migrants in distress during the summer months. The group's protocol does not require volunteers to call the Border Patrol if they encounter illegal entrants who are not in medical distress. Rather, the volunteers give them food, water and minor first aid, and then leave them to continue on their journey.