AZMEX UPDATE 4-2-20

AZMEX UPDATE 4 FEB 2020


Federal judge reverses convictions of 4 Arizona border activists
Published 1 hour ago
Immigration
Associated Press


https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/federal-judge-reverses-convictions-of-4-arizona-border-activists


TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal judge in Tucson has reversed the misdemeanor convictions of four activists,
saying members of the humanitarian group No More Deaths were led by "sincere religious beliefs" when placing water and food for migrants
in Arizona's protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote in the opinion filed Monday that Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick
met the guidelines for establishing they acted on their beliefs.

The four had appealed another judge's ruling a year ago finding them guilty of federal misdemeanors.
They were cited by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services officers in 2017 after driving a truck into the wilderness area and left bottles of water
and other supplies for migrants who cross the region.
( "migrants" means illegals )

Four other volunteers with the group were tried a month later in a separate, similar case, but prose
cutors dropped the charges and issued civil infractions.

Another No More Deaths volunteer, Scott Warren, was acquitted in November on felony charges of illegally harboring two migrants in southern Arizona.
Warren, 37, said neutrality guides his work and denied ever helping migrants hide or avoid authorities.

Thousands of immigrants have died crossing the border since the mid-1990s when increased enforcement pushed many to Arizona's scorching desert.

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