UN: drop charges against border activist

UN human rights experts urged US authorities on Wednesday to drop charges against an Arizona man on trial for providing aid and shelter to migrants crossing over from Mexico.

On Wednesday, a prosecutor said at the trial’s opening that Scott Warren, an activist in the southwestern US state charged with harbouring two undocumented migrants, was part of a conspiracy to “shield” the men from law enforcement.

Warren faces three felony counts for allegedly transporting, harbouring and hiding the men – a case likely to set a precedent over what aid US citizens can give to illegal border crossers.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

“Providing humanitarian aid is not a crime. We urge the US authorities to immediately drop all charges against Scott Warren,” the UN experts, including those dealing with migrant rights and the right to health, said in a statement.

Warren is a volunteer for No More Deaths, a charity that provides water, food and medical aid to mostly Central American migrants crossing Arizona’s southern deserts, which see extremes of temperature change.

Over 3,000 migrants have died trying to cross the area since 2001, according to Pima County data.

His arrest in January 2018 came hours after the group released a report that “documented the implication of Border Control agents in the systematic destruction of humanitarian supplies, including water stores, and denounced a pattern of harassment, intimidation and surveillance against humanitarian aid workers”, the UN experts said.