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Four humanitarian aid volunteers who had left food and water for migrants at a protected wilderness area along the Arizona-Mexico border have been found guilty.
Some of the charges against them resulted in misdemeanors and a potential six months in federal prison.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco found four volunteer members of a humanitarian aid group called No More Deaths, guilty for various charges, which stemmed from their entering the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona, to leave food and water for migrants.
Natalie Hoffman was found guilty on all three charges against her, which included operating a vehicle inside the national refuge, as well as, leaving behind cans of beans and 1-gallon water jugs.
The three other volunteers – Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick – were all passengers inside of the vehicle. Therefore, were each found guilty of the two charges they faced, which included entering the area without a permanent and abandoning personal property.
After being found guilty, each of the four women could face up to six months in federal prison and a $500 fine. No date for sentencing has yet been set.
Another volunteer with the same organization, who was not among the group members arrested or sentenced, spoke out about the judge’s decision.
“This verdict challenges not only No More Deaths volunteers but people of conscience throughout the country,” said Catherine Gaffney, who has long been a volunteer with the No More Deaths group. “If giving water to someone dying of thirst is illegal, what humanity is left in the law of this country?”
“The Defendants did not get an access permit, they did not remain on the designated roads, and they left water, food, and crates in the Refuge,” the judge wrote in his decision. “All of this, in addition to violating the law, erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature,” Velasco wrote in his three-page order posted online Friday afternoon.
The judge added that all four had acted “in the mistaken belief” that the worst case scenario they faced would have been to receive a citation or to be barred from the refuge.
“No one in charge of No More Deaths ever informed them that their conduct could be prosecuted as a criminal offense nor did any of the Defendants make any independent inquiry into the legality or consequences of their activities,” the judge added.
