Trial for border aid volunteer begins in Tucson
TUCSON – A jury trial is underway in federal court for a humanitarian aid volunteer arrested by Border Patrol agents for providing aid to two undocumented immigrants north of the Arizona-Mexico border.
Scott Warren, a volunteer with the humanitarian group No More Deaths, faces three felony charges, one for conspiring to transport and two for allegedly harboring two undocumented immigrants.
The charges stem from his January 2018 arrest outside of a privately owned building in Ajo, a town west of Tucson about 43 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The property, known as The Barn, is used by the organization as a staging area for humanitarian aid work along Arizona’s vast and deadly western deserts. If convicted, Warren faces up to 20 years in prison. On Wednesday morning, prosecuting and defense attorneys narrowed down the pool for the jury that will decide the case.
Opening arguments were expected to begin on
Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins is presiding over the trial after U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco removed himself from the case.
Velasco had overseen the misdemeanor trials against eight other No More Deaths volunteers cited for trespassing and dropping off water and food for migrants in protected wilderness areas along the U.S.Mexico border.
Warren, 36, also faces misdemeanor charges on similar trespassing charges. He appeared before Collins earlier this month on that case, but the judge has yet to decide on those charges.
Border Patrol agents arrested Warren on Jan. 17, 2018, after they set up surveillance around The Barn.
According to the arrest affidavit, agents had tracked two undocumented immigrants to the building and had attempted to detain them. They said that based on the two migrants’ testimony, Warren had given them meals, clothing and allowed them to sleep at The Barn.
In addition to the detaining the two migrants, the agents arrested Warren.
No More Deaths said his arrest came in retribution for a report that the organization had published a few hours before the incident, accusing Border Patrol agents of dumping or tampering with the gallons of water that the group had left for migrants in the desert west of Ajo.
Attorneys for Warren filed two motions earlier this year to dismiss the charges against him. Last week, Collins denied the two motions, setting up the start of the felony trial on Tuesday.