Charges Dropped Against Border Aid Workers
In a late afternoon ruling on Friday, September 1stU.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins dismissed all charges against Shanti Sellzand Daniel Strauss, two volunteers with the Tucson-based humanitarian group NoMore Deaths. Sellz and Strauss were arrested July 9th,2005 while medically evacuating three sick migrants from the Arizonadesert. The men were found several miles north of the U.S. / Mexicoboundary, severely dehydrated and unable to hold down water.
Volunteer doctors instructed Sellz and Strauss to bring themen to a Tucson clinic after it was determined that the level of care theyneeded was more advanced than what could be administered in the field. Atthe time of their arrest, the two humanitarian volunteers were following aprotocol that had been previously agreed to by the U.S. Border Patrol. Inhis ruling Judge Collins states that Sellz and Strauss had made reasonableefforts to ensure that their actions were not in violation of the law, and that“further prosecution would violate the Defendant’s [sic] due processrights.” The case against Sellz and Strauss drew national attention,dramatically framing the human cost of U.S. border policy and the complexitiesof an increasingly politicized region. Click here.
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