4 women fined, sentenced to probation for leaving water for migrants crossing US-Mexico border

[redleghunter]

Ironically, I DO believe that the charges have been exaggerated and there's little basis for a criminal case here but I've tried to focus on the macro politics rather than this obviously engineered pretext for political radicalisation!

They left crates of supplies.

 

[redleghunter]

Exactly. It's not only sickening but scary that such folk honor the Christian right-wing ideology and its current champion sitting in the Oval Office that they will make the excuses and spins that they have in this very thread to condemn the women for the most minor act of compassion that really any human would naturally feel is the right thing to do - not just the religious. But no, instead, we're going to lump most or all migrants together as criminals who deserve no bread or water and likely may even have a murderous streak and that the four women were just aiding them in their evil against good god-fearing America.

The right wing had nothing to do with charging and sentencing these ladies.

They were basically shot down by green policies.

 

[redleghunter]

Sounds like they were fined for littering on a wildlife refuge, just like people do every day. I get that they are trying to help, but lets not act like there wasn't any reason. I'd get fined if I threw trash out my window up to 200$ where I live. Illegally entering a wildlife refuge, and littering on it... seems like they got a fairly average punishment.

The judge said “pack it in/pack it out.”

The beef if any should be against the Sierra Club.

 

[DamianWarS]

A federal judge sentenced four women to 15 months probation and a $250 fine each on Friday as a result of charges stemming from leaving out jugs of water and cans of beans for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The women were convicted in January of operating a vehicle without a permit at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona. They were also convicted of entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and abandonment of property after a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer stopped them in August 2017.

The women -- Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick -- all volunteer for the organization No More Deaths, which is dedicated to saving the lives of immigrants crossing into the United States illegally.

"The border crisis in this country is a matter of life and death," Huse said in a statement from the organization after the sentencing. "History will not favor those on the wrong side of it. Our border policy continues to push people into remote and dangerous parts of the desert."

More at link:

4 women fined, sentenced to probation for leaving water for migrants crossing US-Mexico border

I fail to see where they were charged for leaving water. I just see violations pertaining to permits of operating vehicles. Is this some sort of bogus charge or something? If a permit is needed why would they be exempt for this? Is leaving water behind and operating a vehicle without a permit related?

 

[redleghunter]

People who would have presented themselves at a legal port of entry are now so desperate that they are seeking illegal entry through the desert.

That may be anecdotal evidence as many people forget Obama had his border crackdowns as well in his first term.

And these are historic routes illegal migrants are using.

You can look at the US CBP reports which show land routes into the US through non POEs have always been used.

 

[redleghunter]

I fail to see where they were charged for leaving water. I just see violations pertaining to permits of operating vehicles. Is this some sort of bogus charge or something? If a permit is needed why would they be exempt for this? Is leaving water behind and operating a vehicle without a permit related?

Reading the article they left crates of materials, operated a vehicle without permit, and went off road which is another no no.

From the posted article:

Not only did the women not get a permit for access, they also left water, food and crates on the protected land, the verdict states.

"All of this, in addition to violating the law, erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature," Velasco wrote.

In addition, the preserve is "littered with unexploded military ordinance" because it is surrounded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Barry Goldwater Bombing Range, according to the verdict. The Tohono O’Odham nation and U.S. Border Patrol are also nearby, Velasco wrote.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Put simply they were cited for violating preservation laws.

Meaning they were shot down by the Sierra club mafia.

The Sierra Club is remarkably unconcerned about the environmental effects of immigration. Immigration is an environmental issue though, and no honest environmentalist can fail to address the danger it poses.

 

[redleghunter]

The example was restricting legal asylum seeking and thus creating a “crisis.” This was all covered in earlier posts in this thread and one had a linked article.

I doubt the OP article is addressing legal asylum seekers. The border patrol reports that the caravan asylum seekers are showing up at POEs and the ones who enter illegally are immediately surrendering to CBP officials.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Some only break the law when it's called for, and a good responsible individual will know when it's called for/will not get carried away.

A good thing IMO. I'm for the wall but more for people not dying for trying to find a better way for themselves.

 

[usexpat97]

Matthew 10:42. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded

 

[DamianWarS]

Reading the article they left crates of materials, operated a vehicle without permit, and went off road which is another no no.

From the posted article:

Not only did the women not get a permit for access, they also left water, food and crates on the protected land, the verdict states.

"All of this, in addition to violating the law, erodes the national decision to maintain the Refuge in its pristine nature," Velasco wrote.

In addition, the preserve is "littered with unexploded military ordinance" because it is surrounded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Barry Goldwater Bombing Range, according to the verdict. The Tohono O’Odham nation and U.S. Border Patrol are also nearby, Velasco wrote.

perhaps the ladies could petition these governing bodies to allow unmonitored drinking centers with some sort of well or above ground tapped water tank that is maintained and operated by non-for profit organizations (like these ladies). it would be sort of like putting a condom machine in bathrooms of high schools. you don't like it but you like worse teenage pregnancies so in the same way you don't like the idea of helping illegals getting into the US but you like worse people dying of thirst on American soil.

 

[St. Helens]

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[Halbhh]

A federal judge sentenced four women to 15 months probation and a $250 fine each on Friday as a result of charges stemming from leaving out jugs of water and cans of beans for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The women were convicted in January of operating a vehicle without a permit at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona. They were also convicted of entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and abandonment of property after a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer stopped them in August 2017.

The women -- Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick -- all volunteer for the organization No More Deaths, which is dedicated to saving the lives of immigrants crossing into the United States illegally.

"The border crisis in this country is a matter of life and death," Huse said in a statement from the organization after the sentencing. "History will not favor those on the wrong side of it. Our border policy continues to push people into remote and dangerous parts of the desert."

More at link:

4 women fined, sentenced to probation for leaving water for migrants crossing US-Mexico border

When I was only 6, and we lived about a quarter mile from the International Bridge in El Paso (and at night as I slept on the screen porch in the summer the border patrol would drive slowly by and shine a spot light into the cotton fields around our little rock house), one day I took a glass of water to some immigrants waiting at the corner of our yard for the bus.

They were surprised and humbly accepted the water. It was warm and dry and dusty usually, so I like to think they really were glad for it.

Perhaps I'd hear this in church:
Matthew 10:42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward."
(what an amazing verse, right?)

And for me, the little child (Matthew 18:3 "Truly I tell you," He said, "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.) that's what it meant, and still does.

 

[Halbhh]

Short term compassion, long term irresponsibility. Like selling the family silver to ease your own conscience.

family silver....

 

[redleghunter]

family silver....

My favorite part of the tome.

 

[Hank77]

So, in Arizona you can be fined for compassion?

No the article headline is not accurate.

The women were convicted in January of operating a vehicle without a permit at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona. They were also convicted of entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and abandonment of property after a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer stopped them in August 2017.

 

[Hank77]

Apparently.

Historian Rutger Bregman has said that borders are one of the biggest sources of injustice left on the planet. Workers in Bolivia, for instance, earn 2.5 times less than Americans, even if they have the same education and skills.

How does their cost of living compare?

 

[Hank77]

We should make it easier for people seeking asylum to present themselves at legal ports of entry. I believe that we have a duty as the most prosperous nation on Earth to help those less fortunate. That is the Christian thing to do. Not make asylum claims harder and take children from their parents.

What do you suggest? What should the process be, how should it be administered, how long should it take, and what should the outcome be?

 

[Hank77]

perhaps the ladies could petition these governing bodies to allow unmonitored drinking centers with some sort of well or above ground tapped water tank that is maintained and operated by non-for profit organizations (like these ladies). it would be sort of like putting a condom machine in bathrooms of high schools. you don't like it but you like worse teenage pregnancies so in the same way you don't like the idea of helping illegals getting into the US but you like worse people dying of thirst on American soil.

There are ranchers who have done this. Some for the migrates benefit and some so that migrates would quit damaging their stock tanks while getting water.