Two Humanitarian Volunteers Arrested By US Border Patrol : AZ IMC

On Monday, July 11th at 12:00 noon at Southside
Presbyterian Church, individuals of conscious,
religious leaders, human rights advocates, and
grassroots organizers affiliated with the No More
Deaths campaign will congregate to express their deep
outrage over the arrest of two volunteers who were
saving the lives of three migrants near Arivaca, AZ.

The No More Deaths camp encountered three individuals,
two of whom were ill and had severe blisters, and the
third who was vomiting and had severe diarrhea on
Saturday, July 9th at the Arivaca Camp. After
consulting with two doctors and one nurse, it was
assessed that the individuals were in need of immediate
medical attention and evaluation. The volunteers were
advised to take the migrants to the nearest medical
facility.

While medically evacuating the distressed migrants, the
No More Deaths volunteers were stopped and arrested by
U.S. Border Patrol. They have each been charged with
one felony count of transportation of an undocumented
person and one felony count of obstruction of justice.
They will be arraigned on Monday, July 11th.

Community members are outraged by this shameless
injustice of arresting individuals while providing
emergency medical aid. People of conscience stand
together in solidarity with those arrested, insisting
that these volunteers were following a faith-inspired
moral code of ethnics; no human being should have to
die a gruesome death in search of work in the United
States. U.S. Border Patrol should be applauding the
efforts of these volunteers for their heroic efforts of
aiding human beings in emergency medical distress.

Since the fiscal year began on October 1, 2004, the
total number of migrant deaths that have occurred in
Arizona have reached an alarming 151 deaths by June 30,
2005. In the month of June alone, the No More Deaths
campaign alone has rescued 175 migrants in distress in
the Arizona desert. Without these humanitarian
efforts, there is no doubt that the migrant death count
would be even higher in the state of Arizona.

The No More Deaths Movement is a diverse coalition of
individuals, faith communities, human rights advocates,
and grassroots organizers who are engaged in direct and
symbolic action to save lives, advocate for immigration
policy reform, and raise public awareness about the
present-day crisis of migrant deaths in the deserts of
the Southwest.