No More Deaths volunteer arrested, charged with harboring immigrants
(Jan. 22, 2018) Scott Daniel Warren, 35, faces up to five years in prison for harboring two people suspected of being in the country without authorization, after Warren gave them food and water.
Warren’s arrest came quickly on the heels of No More Deaths and Derechos Humanos releasing a report that implicated BP agents in the Tucson Sector with intentionally destroying some of the food and water caches left by the groups in an attempt to stem the number of deaths from exposure in desert.
A spokesman for Tucson Sector Border Patrol would not comment on Warren’s arrest, and forwarded a request for comment to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Cosme Lopez, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment, adding only that Warren will face an initial appearance Tuesday.
In the report, No More Deaths said that from 2012 to 2015, 415 caches of water left for crossers in the 800-square-mile corridor near Arivaca were vandalized, spilling nearly 3,600 gallons of water into the desert.
During this same time period, the bodies of 1,026 people were found in the Sonoran Desert, according to records from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.
During this same time period, the bodies of 1,026 people were found in the Sonoran Desert, according to records from the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.
In 2017 alone, the office handled the remains of another 128 people.
Using statistical analysis, including land-use patterns, as well as video from trail cameras, and personal experiences to support their claims, the group said that U.S. Border Patrol agents “are responsible for the widespread interference with essential humanitarian efforts.”
No More Deaths has videos of Border Patrol agents intentionally destroying water bottles, including a video in which a female Border Patrol agent systematically kicks a half-dozen water bottles, spilling their contents, and a 2017 video in which an agent punctures a water bottle with a knife.
In their report, the group noted that while other groups, including hunters, may vandalize water bottles and food drops, there’s a baseline vandalism rate, where about 6.6 percent of the water judge as destroyed, which rises to 9.3 percent during hunting season.
Genevieve Schroeder, a volunteer with No More Deaths said that the arrest of Warren was “noteworthy” because it came just hours after the release of the report, and videos that “went viral.”
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