Good Samaritan Prosecutions
Humanitarian workers on trial for helping undocumented migrants
As migrants endure life-threatening conditions to cross the US-Mexico border, aid workers face criminal charges. Enforcement of ‘harboring’ laws has been intensified by anti-immigrant sentiment.
More than 3,000 undocumented migrants have died in Arizona during the last 20 years while trying to cross into the U.S. from Mexico, despite a policy of deterrence in force since the Clinton presidency. Volunteers provide food, water and shelter to migrants facing impossible conditions to cross the border. But these aid workers face penalties including imprisonment, as they are accused of “bringing in and harbouring aliens.” According to attorney Margo Cowan, “this sends a message to the community that if you see somebody lying by the road you can’t stop and help them, because it might be a felony.” Aid workers like John Fife, founder of organisation No More Deaths, are undeterred: “the charges have galvanized an international awareness of the basic human right to provide humanitarian aid.”
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