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Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 10:21:48 AM EST
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Here's an example of how tougher punitive immigration bills can be misapplied:

Prosecutors in Arizona have charged two volunteers who say they tried to save the lives of three sick migrants stranded in the desert with felony charges of transporting illegal immigrants. If convicted, Daniel Strauss, of Manhattan, and Shanti Sellz, of Iowa City, Iowa, both 24, could face up to 15 years in federal prison and a half-million-dollar fine.

...in court papers, the Border Patrol contended the work of the faith-based group No More Deaths was encouraging migrants to cross illegally into the United States. The agency also contended group leaders were warned volunteers could be arrested. The leaders dismissed the arguments as absurd.

Daniel Strauss had this to say:

"It seems like common sense that providing humanitarian aid to someone who is in an extreme medical condition can't be against the law," said Strauss, who grew up on the Upper West Side and attended the elite Fieldston School High School in the Bronx. "The act of saving someone's life shouldn't be something that's prosecuted. It's crazy."

As to the incident that caused the arrest:

Strauss, a social worker in Jackson Hole, Wyo., who still volunteers with the group, vividly remembers the day they found the immigrants. It was last year, during the hottest July in local history - that week left a record 78 migrants dead.

One of the parched immigrants they found last July 9 was lying in a ditch and couldn't stop throwing up when rescue workers tried to give him water. He had blood in his diarrhea and had been drinking contaminated water out of slimy cattle troughs.

....Strauss and Sellz got into a Subaru GL Wagon with the word "Samaritan" written in big letters on the side. They started driving the Mexican man and two others in similar condition north to a hospital in Tucson. Before they got there, Border Patrol agents pulled them over and arrested the migrants.

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    Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested | 43 comments (43 topical)
    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#1)
    by roxtar on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 10:44:07 AM EST
    It's abominations such as this one that are the predictable result of the all-too-easy-to-demagogue issue of illegal immigration. That's why local TV had a story today about Bob Ney (R - Abramoff) inspecting our "border defenses". For those of you keeping score at home, Bob Ney's district is approximately 1,500 miles from Mexico. But there's votes in bashing those Mexicans, especially in a district in which is less than 1% Hispanic.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 10:54:38 AM EST
    Im so tired of the Mexican debate. Lets move to Mexico and take it over. :)

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:33:42 AM EST
    et al Someone should explain to these folks that there are two issues here. The first is that helping someone commit a crime, is a crime itself. So if you are providing aid to illegals, then you are breaking the law. The second is that if you believe that what you are doing is morally right you should do it and take the consquences.
    The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    There is a third. Since such actions do encourage additional illegal aliens, and given that these two men cannot be everywhere at all times, are they willing to admit they may actually be causing people to injured, or even die, because of false expectations that someone will "save" them.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:46:50 AM EST
    The first is that helping someone commit a crime, is a crime itself.
    not saving someone when you can is a crime against your humanity and no christian should contenance it. if I see a person get hit by a car I'm not going to ask them is they're american before I give first aid. Only folks like ppj wuld let sick and dying people lay there in their own waste and perish.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:51:21 AM EST
    HELPING PEOPLE WHO ARE ILL does NOT encourage illegal immigration. What encourages illegal immigration is our economic policy -- with an International Trade Agreement that makes it impossible for Mexicans to earn a living in Mexico (including at American factories that pay workers $15/day). When a good samaritan rescues some who is injured -- even someone who is breaking a law -- that does not encourage law-breaking. If a drunk driver hits a lamppost, causing the car to burn and the driver to be injured, and a good samaritan rescues the driver from his burning car and brings him to a hospital, nobody would ever suggest that encourages drunk driving.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#6)
    by TomStewart on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 12:05:35 PM EST
    So, if they had just let the people die in desert, then they would have been fine, no legal problems? Oh. Okay...

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#7)
    by Patrick on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 12:16:07 PM EST
    They didn't just happen across these people. They were there to facilitate illegal immigration. Faith-based or not. In the time it took them to transport these people north, they could have alerted the EMS system and perhaps gotten professional medical assistance to them even sooner. I don't think it should be a 15 year sentence, but they are not poor uninformed folks wandering into the situation blindly.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 12:18:26 PM EST
    "What encourages illegal immigration is our economic policy -- with an International Trade Agreement that makes it impossible for Mexicans to earn a living in Mexico (including at American factories that pay workers $15/day)." So American factories should move back to the U.S. and increase their wages and this will keep illegals from coming in? Good logic - more unemployed Mexicans will want to stay there and not come over?...Illegals come this way because of a better way of life and opportunity. If people know that the danger is diminished by crossing the desert then they will be more inclined to cross it. They shouldn't be left to die, but then again by giving false hope to others you are increasing the odds some other workers will die thinking they will be saved. But arresting them is more than just a tad stupid. They would be better off volunteering their time taking care of poor people in this country though.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 12:38:28 PM EST
    sailor - Your example is not the same and you know it. In your example it is happenstance, and I would help them, as you claim you would. The case in point is not happenstance. We have two guys working for an organization that's purpose is to provide aid to illegal aliens. That's wrong. Even then if you want to do it, fine. But understand you are breaking the law and enticing people into dangerous situations that you may not be able to control, and may result in death or serious injury.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#11)
    by soccerdad on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 01:01:07 PM EST
    If I see someone in dying the desert, I will do no more than calling 911.
    Figures The usual suspects haven't the slightest amount of human compassion. Consistent with Bush its ideology over human life. At least they are consistent. Pathetic

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#12)
    by Sailor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 01:12:05 PM EST
    They were there to facilitate illegal immigration. Faith-based or not.
    Nope, they were there to offer humanitarian assistence. and yep, all them illegals is just flooding across the border because they might run into someone with a sandwich and water. it ain't the good samaritans that entice them across the border, it's the companies and individuals who hire them. And I couldn't find a single record of a boss doing time. The concept of humanitarian aid sure does escape some folks.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#14)
    by Patrick on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 01:32:12 PM EST
    Nope, they were there to offer humanitarian assistence.
    In what manner? You say it's assistance, I say it's facilitation. Semantics really.. They were there knowingly, and as such, it's disingenuous to represent it as a chance occurrance, that they just happened to come accross these people in need of assistance and out of the goodness of their heart decided to help and found themsleves caught up in this situation.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#15)
    by jen on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 01:39:50 PM EST
    Narius, you have no clue what you oppose. How far were they from a hospital? How long would it have taken an ambulance to get there? A heat emergency is an EMERGENCY. They had water, they had a vehicle with AC. You don't falk around with heat exhaustion/stroke. It wasn't like they picked someone up who was suffering from a gorrum cold. Patrick, I thought you were a cop, don't they teach those things? Heat injuries need IMMEDIATE attention. Water - shade - ac then medical help.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 02:01:09 PM EST
    Jan - Give'em the help. Arresst the two guys who are part of the problem. Put'em in jail. Send the illegals home. Seems simple to me.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#17)
    by jen on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 02:11:21 PM EST
    Arrest the guys who led them over the border. Arrest the illegal aliens. You dont arrest people for saving lives, even if they DID save their lives on purpose. It was a heatwave in the summer in a desert. Yeah, the samaritans went looking for dying people. And? FIFTEEN YEARS? Thats obscene.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#18)
    by roxtar on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 02:42:38 PM EST
    And if you called 911, and told the paramedics that the victims were illegals, wouldn't they be subject to arrest? Hey, how about a couple of volunteers to play the part of the illegals in a little experiment? Narius? PPJ? Bueller?

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 03:32:12 PM EST
    TalkLeft is still baffled by the illegal part of illegal alien. And here I thought TL and TChris were lawyers...

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#20)
    by Patrick on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 03:38:21 PM EST
    Patrick, I thought you were a cop, don't they teach those things?
    I'm not saying they were wrong for helping people in distress, I'm saying they weren't there by accident or coincidence. We really don't know how serious the heat injury was, we just take their word for it. Yes, heat injuries are potentially life threatening, but hot, sweaty and sick isn't necessarily a life threatening condition, nor is it automatically heat stroke.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#22)
    by jen on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 03:43:32 PM EST
    Suffereing a heat stroke, while is a good reason to receive medical attention, is NOT sufficient ground to be granted residency in the US.
    Who on earth said it was???????????????? The question is, why are the people that gave them first aid and transporting them to a hospital being charged with a crime by a prosecuter seeking FIFTEEN YEARS

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#23)
    by Sailor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 03:52:19 PM EST
    TalkLeft is still baffled by the illegal part of illegal alien.
    yep, it should be a death sentence, right JR, narius and ppj? Patrick, they were facilitating survival, if they weren't there the folks would probably have died, and it wouldn't stop other illegals. Just like the folks from haiti or cuba, they will take the risk because things are so bad in their country. And what happened to the illegals? a couple of days detention and deported. The gov't has a lot better use of its resources than all the time and $$ it'll take to prosecute these folks.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#25)
    by jen on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 04:11:29 PM EST
    well don't complain if you receive the compassion you show.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#26)
    by txpublicdefender on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 04:41:56 PM EST
    Who are you people? I don't understand how a human being can possibly advocate charging people with a crime for transporting severely ill people to the hospital--whether the people were illegal aliens or anything else. What possible moral guidelines would lead you to believe that it is a correct moral choice to NOT take someone suffering from a life-threatening condition to the hospital? The fact that there is even a debate about this makes me sick. If the facts really are as TL says, that these people were in a dangerous medical condition, in need of immediate attention, then the accused obviously have a justification defense. I imagine the federal government, like just about every other jurisdiction, has a necessity defense. Preventing imminent death or serious bodily injury is always applicable as a necessity defense. Again, if the facts truly are as TL lays them out, the prosecutors who filed these charges should be sanctioned.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#27)
    by jen on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 04:46:00 PM EST
    txpublicdefender: they are defending the culture of life

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 05:29:14 PM EST
    Seems to me it is illegal to hire these workers, but only just a couple of days ago I read that someone was detained for this crime. IMO this whole immigration thing is an attempt by the rightwing wacks to engineer a devisive issue to further divide us. Never mind that people will suffer because of it. I wish they would march a few of these wack creeps across the desert, including local politicians who pander by pushing this issue.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#29)
    by Quaker in a Basement on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 09:54:18 PM EST
    You people who think the rescuers should be arrested: You do know what the "Samaritan" reference is all about, don't you? Shall we remind you who created that story and why?

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 10:41:47 PM EST
    It's an emotional issue, and while emotions are not the friend of logic, in this case, the logic just ain't that tough. In the first place, the samaritans have no intention of shielding these people from the INS. The plan is to transport the ailing people to a hospital and get them admitted for medical attention. Their job is done at that point. From there, hospital staff will notify the authorities, and the individuals will be returned to Mexico when they are well enough to travel. Rather than encouraging Mexicans to make the trek, this, it would seem, should have the opposite effect. The knowledge that if you became ill or injured and were lucky enough to be found by a samaritan you would nevertheless be sent back to Mexico hardly seems to qualify as an "incentive" to try sneaking across the border. I think the accused samaritans' attorneys should try to show what the samaritans' intent was-- whether to deliver the ailing immigrants to a hospital or to try to shield them from the authorities, and thus enable them to remain in this country. It shouldn't be too hard to demonstrate that the former is the case, and from here I defer to what txpublicdefender said at 5:41 pm....

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:29:05 PM EST
    The Shanti Sellz of Iowa City, Iowa I know would do excatly what she is accused of. She helped another person in need without regard to color or nationality. She is a kind, generous, selfless young woman. I havent talked to her in years but I am very proud of her. Daniel Shaffer Colorado Public Defender's Office Montrose, Colorado

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Aug 02, 2006 at 11:52:09 PM EST
    You do know what the "Samaritan" reference is all about, don't you?
    Thank you, Quaker. I was wondering when someone was going to make that point. I must have forgotten the part of the parable in which zealous border guards arrested the Good Samaritan for his compassionate acts.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#33)
    by jen on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 08:10:56 AM EST
    remember, Cymro? The good men saw him and didn't see a green card, so they passed by.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#34)
    by jondee on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 10:32:49 AM EST
    Sailor - Good point about Cuba and Haiti. It's been made before, but cant be reiterated enough. If the "illegals" had been a couple of boat loads from Cuba the silence about "what part of illegal dont they understand?" from the Fox-swill bucket brigade would be positivly thunderous.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#35)
    by jondee on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 11:37:51 AM EST
    "Give 'em help" and imprison the people that gave 'em help. Makes sense to me.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#36)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 01:00:29 PM EST
    et al - The point remains that is not "happenstance." Their mission is to look for and provide aid and assistance to people who are committing a crime. Illegally entering the US. Try to focus on that fact. That makes them an acomplice. To those of you who claim that the illegals are just trying to improve their economic status, I note that the same can be said for any bank robber. The same can be said for Ken Law and Bernie Ebbers.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#37)
    by kdog on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 01:13:19 PM EST
    Their mission is to look for and provide aid and assistance to people who are committing a crime.
    That's one warped way to look at it, IMO. I see their mission as providing help and aid to those in need of help and aid...a noble pursuit by any definition. Medicine for the sick, water for the thirsty, food for the hungry....when these acts become crimes I want no part of the society that criminalizes these acts.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#38)
    by kdog on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 01:43:49 PM EST
    And the fact that they actively out looking for people in dire need of assistance, and not waiting to come across the needy by happenstance, also deserves praise, not charges.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#39)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:18:53 PM EST
    Boy, tough one. You can't really fault the good sams for giving the guy(s) water and some health aid. But it seems that the act of transporting the sick guys(s) is the real issue. Had the good sam's just given the guy(s) some water and some time to cool down in their vehicle would they have been charged? I wonder how many similarly sick folks the border patrol saves every year? (btw, pleeeenty of hospitals muuuuch closer to the border area where these guys were found than whatever hospital in Tucson the good sams say they were heading for...) Also, slightly OT but this topic got me thinking...how does one rationalize their disdain toward "outsourcing" (American jobs to foreigners) yet support illegal foreigners working in America?

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#40)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:33:49 PM EST
    btw, the gov says the 3 illegals were being transported from an aid camp to Tucson...

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#41)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:37:11 PM EST
    ..and this says the good sams were not bringing the 3 to a hospital...

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#42)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:38:50 PM EST
    ..ok the aid camp is run by the org the good sams were volunteering for...

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#43)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:41:59 PM EST
    ...and the Tucson newspaper said
    The Border Patrol said the migrants were not in medical distress and denied assistance once in custody.
    OK, I've googled enough.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#44)
    by Peaches on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 02:51:54 PM EST
    how does one rationalize their disdain toward "outsourcing" (American jobs to foreigners) yet support illegal foreigners working in America?
    Good question. I think one could rationalize it because we are outsourcing the good high paying jobs Americans want, while the low paying jobs Americans would rather not do get filled by the illegals or anyone willing to do them.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#45)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 03:25:43 PM EST
    Thanks Peaches, I got what I asked for. ;-)

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#46)
    by Sailor on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 03:56:21 PM EST
    suo, the clinic was closer
    Had the good sam's just given the guy(s) some water and some time to cool down in their vehicle would they have been charged?
    You can't fix bloody stool discharge with a drink of water.
    The Border Patrol said the migrants were not in medical distress and denied assistance once in custody.
    And since the BP is a disinterested party I'm sure they are telling the truth.

    Re: Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested (none / 0) (#47)
    by jondee on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 08:49:47 PM EST
    The same can be said for Lay and Ebbers Go ahead and make that comparison, just be pepared to be laughed out of the room.

    Good Samaritan Migrant Aid Workers Arrested | 43 comments (43 topical)