Petition is successful with 139,036 signatures
To: Michael Bailey, U.S. Attorney, Anna Wright, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and Nathaniel Walters, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Drop all charges against No More Deaths volunteer Scott Warren
Victory! The creator of this petition declared the campaign a success. You can still sign the petition to show support.
The US Attorney's Office must drop all charges against Dr. Scott Warren, PhD, stemming from his humanitarian aid work in the US-Mexico border region of Arizona. Furthermore, the USAO must also cease prosecution of all humanitarian aid workers and allow them to provide life-saving aid without fear of government harassment and prosecution.
Why is this important?
Our son Scott is facing three federal felony charges for providing humanitarian aid to two migrants in the southwest borderlands of the United States. We’re asking you to sign this petition demanding that the US Attorney’s office drop all charges against him. He has been charged with two counts of felony harboring and one count of conspiracy for, according to the charging documents, "providing food, water, clean clothes and beds". If convicted, faces up to 20 years in prison.
Each year persons fleeing poverty, oppression, and violence in their home countries make the desperate decision to confront Arizona’s western desert, one of the harshest landscapes on earth, in search of a better life. For many, the decision ends in a painful and lonely death in the remote reaches of the Sonoran Desert. No one deserves to die in the desert. No one deserves to go to prison for trying to prevent those deaths. The work of Scott and other humanitarian aid volunteers to alleviate suffering should be upheld as standards of virtue for all of us rather than punished by threat of prison. Help us show the USAO that there is widespread support for humanitarian aid work and that prosecuting our son is both morally wrong and politically unpopular.
Scott’s devotion to his humanitarian work consistently inspires us. We first realized the extent of his commitment when we saw – as parents, felt – the pain he suffered upon encountering the bodies of migrants in the desert, and the deep sense of responsibility he feels to commemorate their journeys both as migrants and as human beings. That the USAO would seek to criminalize compassion and respect for human dignity is unconscionable.