Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Humanitarian aid never a crime
By Rosa Ortiz
The Heights (Boston College)
03/20/2006

(U-WIRE) CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — A search in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and CNN archives yields no articles or even mention of the July 9, 2005 arrests of two humanitarians, Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss. The two are volunteers for the organization No More Deaths, based in Tucson, Ariz. The group's preamble reads, "We come together as communities of faith and people of conscience to express our indignation and sadness over the continued death of hundreds of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border each year. We believe that such death and suffering diminish us all." From October 2004 through September 2005 alone, 279 dead illegal migrants were identified. Countless others disappear and are never found.

Sellz and Strauss were only doing what they had done many times before: evacuating three sick migrants to medical care in Tucson. They were following protocol, acting on the advice of a nurse, physician, and lawyer, also volunteers for No More Deaths, when they were stopped and arrested by Border Patrol. In January, Sellz and Strauss' felony indictment for "transportation in furtherance of an illegal presence in the United States" was upheld. Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Stanley G. Feldman has recently joined the defense team representing Sellz and Strauss. A trial date has been set to April 25, the outcome which has a potential sentence of up to 15 years in prison if they are convicted.

The push by Border Patrol and the government to prosecute the two humanitarians is appalling and upsetting. My concern is that this prominent political issue on immigration is being tested on its human values. The act of the estimated 2 million Mexicans, who risk death each year in crossing the border, has been reduced to a political battle. I have met some of those people, during my recent trip with BorderLinks, through the Boston College Campus Ministry office, and was astonished by what I found. I met men, and a few women, desperate to provide for families and themselves so that they can live in more humane conditions. Ironically, those conditions, to many "Americans," would prove substandard to our tastes. Their destinations in the United States varied greatly, from Florida to Washington State, but their purpose was the same; they were searching for their American Dream, just like our own ancestors when they came to the United States. Upon entering the United States, after having walked across the desert for days, with limited water, food and shelter, these men and women struggle to survive.

On its Web site, www. nomoredeaths.org, the group posted the following: "The No More Deaths coalition announces a 40-day fast for Justice on the Border to coincide with the seasons of Lent and Passover, beginning on March 1st. We call on our supporters to join us as we hold vigil every day from 8:00 am until sunset at El Tiradito shrine in downtown Tucson. We fast in rememberance of the lives claimed along our border and in protest of the policies that cause these deaths. We continue to call on the government to drop all charges against No More Deaths volunteers Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss."

My hope is that as conscious citizens, we are able to defend Sellz and Strauss, who were trying to help others survive. The outcome of their prosecution could set a precedent for future humanitarian aid. It is critical to pressure the government now to drop the charges so the two volunteers, and the rest of us are free and able to provide humanitarian assistance for people in need.

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