Federal prosecutors in Arizona announced Tuesday that they will seek a retrial in the case of humanitarian aid volunteer Scott Warren, who could face several years in prison for providing food, water, clean clothes, and beds to migrants in the desert.
The move by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona comes after Warren’s first trial ended with a hung jury last month. The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that “Anna Wright, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in Tucson federal court that the government would dismiss one count of conspiracy to transport or shield, but that they would seek a retrial on two counts of harboring an undocumented immigrant.”
Warren — a 36-year-old college geography instructor — and two undocumented migrants were arrested in January of 2018 after Border Patrol agents set up surveillance outside “The Barn,” a building in Ajo, Arizona, where humanitarian workers provide migrants with water and other essentials. Human rights advocates worldwide have accused the Trump administration of “criminalizing compassion” with the decision to charge Warren with multiple felonies.
“If Dr. [Scott] Warren were convicted and imprisoned on these absurd charges, Amnesty International would recognize him as a prisoner of conscience — detained for his volunteer activities motivated by humanitarian principles and his religious beliefs.” https://t.co/5FyZT27sAH
— The Intercept (@theintercept) July 2, 2019
The humanitarian group No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, for which Warren is a volunteer, tweeted in response to the retrial announcement that the U.S. government is continuing the “unconscionable prosecution of [an] aid worker in midst of a humanitarian crisis at our border.”
Though the new trial is currently scheduled for later this year, the government reportedly put forward a plea deal on Tuesday that would keep Warren out of prison.
According to the Republic:
Prosecutors also announced a plea offer to Warren to plead guilty to a misdemeanor of aiding and abetting with a sentence of time served. If convicted of the more serious, felony charges for harboring, Warren could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Raner Collins set the start of the second trial for Nov. 12. Warren has 10 days before that date to decide whether to take the plea deal.
Speaking to journalists and supporters outside the courthouse Tuesday, Warren did not comment on the government’s plea offer. The Arizona Daily Star reported that his attorney, Amy Knight, promised, “We will continue to defend [him] for as long as necessary.”
Reading a prepared statement outside the courthouse, Warren said the case “has been deeply exhausting and troublesome to my friends and family and loved ones,” but also that “we are ready for this second trial and more prepared than ever.”
“While I do not know what the government has hoped to accomplish here,” he added, “I do know what the effect of all this has been and will continue to be: a raising of public consciousness, a greater awareness of the humanitarian crisis in the borderland, more volunteers who want to stand in solidarity with migrants, local residents stiffened in their resistance to border walls and the militarization of our communities, and a flood of water into the desert at a time when it is most needed.”
Scott's words brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd. We love you too Scott. https://t.co/QyL5FdQLOr
— No More Deaths | No Más Muertes (@NoMoreDeaths) July 2, 2019
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We’re presently working to find 1500 new monthly donors to Truthout before the end of the year.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy