Scott Warren facing 20-year prison sentence for providing humanitarian aid

On 21 November 2019, migrant rights defender Dr. Scott Warren was found not guilty by an Arizona court on two counts of “harbouring migrants” for providing them with food, water and clean clothing. The jury unanimously agreed that the human rights defender was lawfully carrying out life-saving humanitarian aid by providing assistance to two men crossing the border on foot.

Dr. Warren, who was initially facing two decades in prison for his human rights work, volunteers with No More Deaths / No Más Muertes. The organisation provides water and medical aid on migration routes and documents the deaths of migrants who attempt crossing through the Sonora desert, one of the deadliest corridors of the Mexico-US borderlands.

A US court first tried Dr. Warren on three felony charges related to his human rights work in June 2019. On 11 June, the judge declared a mistrial when jurors were unable to reach a verdict. The government dropped one conspiracy charge and retried him in November on two counts of harbouring – one for each person to whom he provided food, water and clean clothing before being arrested in January 2018

In a separate case, Dr. Warren faces a misdemeanour charge for driving into a national wildlife refuge as part of his work leaving water for migrants. He is set to be tried in February 2020. A second misdemeanour charge also related to dropping off water supplies in the desert, “abandonment of property”, was dropped.

Front Line Defenders welcomes the court’s ruling, which recognises the vital work that migrant rights defenders do protecting life on the Mexico-U.S. border. However, Front Line Defenders expresses deep concern about the increase in prosecution of migrant rights defenders in the US. The targetting of Scott Warren is part of a larger, systemic effort by the US government to attack migrant rights defenders, organising and solidarity, and to continue its weaponisation of the desert via ‘prevention through deterrence’ border policies.

On 2 July, the US Attorney's Office in Tucson, Arizona announced it would retry Scott Warren in a felony case. The government dropped a conspiracy charge and will retry Scott Warren on 12 November on two counts of harbouring migrants.

On 29 May 2019, Scott Warren is due to face a felony trial at the Evo A. DeConcini United States Courthouse in Tucson, Arizona. The human rights defender is charged with two counts of “harbouring” migrants in Ajo, Arizona, and one count of “conspiracy to transport and harbour” migrants. If found guilty, he might be sentenced to up to 20 years of imprisonment.

Dr. Scott Warren is a human rights defender working on migration issues in Ajo, Arizona. For over ten years, he has provided humanitarian aid to migrants and asylum seekers who attempt crossing the Mexico-US border through the Sonora desert. He helped establish the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths or No Más Muertes which provides water and medical aid on migration routes, and documents the deaths of migrants in the desert.

On 29 May 2019 at 9:30am, Scott Warren’s trial began at the Evo A. DeConcini United States Courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, for two counts of “harbouring” migrants and one count of “conspiracy to transport and harbour” migrants. On 21 May 2019, the judge assigned to the case rejected a motion to dismiss the indictment. Scott Warren’s lawyers argued that the case against him "arose from selective enforcement of the laws by the Border Patrol" and that he was being targeted specifically for his work in defence of migrants’ rights. Evidence of surveillance activities carried out against Warren by the U.S. Border Patrol were included in the lawyers' motion.

On 17 January 2018, Scott Warren was detained at a volunteer gathering point known as the “Barn”, located in Ajo, by a convoy of U.S. Border Patrol agents from a specialised anti-smuggling unit. The agents were wearing plain clothes, did not present the human rights defender with a warrant and disregarded his request that they leave the property. Earlier on that day, No More Deaths had published a report denouncing Border Patrol officers’ destruction of water gallons left by volunteers for migrants crossing the desert.

The criminalisation of Scott Warren represents an escalation of existing patterns of harassment against humanitarian volunteers and human rights defenders in Arizona. In 2018, officers of the Fish and Wildlife Services cited Scott Warren and other volunteers of No More Deaths for entering the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most deadly migrant corridors along the Mexico-US border, to provide life-saving aid, including water, food and medical supplies, to migrants crossing the desert.

The prosecution of the migrant rights defender forms part of a series of systematic efforts by the authorities in the United States to criminalise migrant rights defenders, and comes in a context of a migration crisis exacerbated by the border enforcement policy of “prevention through deterrence.” This policy, which funnels migrants and asylum seekers into the most deadly corridors of the desert, is believed to cause thousands of deaths and disappearances. Every year, the highest number of deaths related to migration in the United States is recorded in Arizona.

On recent country visits, Front Line Defenders found that defamation and criminalisation of humanitarian activity is increasing along the migrant caravan routes. Human rights defenders in Mexico and the United States have been detained, harassed and criminalised for the provision of humanitarian aid, including distributing food, water and medical supplies, and operating emergency shelters for migrant families. The targeted surveillance, interrogation, and judicial harassment of human rights defenders providing humanitarian aid and support to asylum seekers demonstrates that authorities in the United States are escalating their tactics of deterrence.

Front Line Defenders condemns the criminalisation of Scott Warren, as it is believed to be directly motivated by his humanitarian work assisting migrants and documenting their deaths. Front Line Defenders is further concerned about the increased use of the judiciary to target human rights defenders and organisations who assist migrants at the United States – Mexico border, including by selective enforcement of the law.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in the United States to:

1. Strongly condemn the unjust criminalisation of Scott Warren, as well as of other human rights defenders working on migration rights;

2. Immediately drop all charges against Scott Warren, as they are believed to be solely motivated by his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights;

3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in the United States are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including judicial harassment.