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By Sal Osio, JD

From the Publisher's Corner,

September 25, 2009

Mi Punto de Vista

America’s Criminalization of Humanitarian Aid

 Walter Staton, a resident of Tucson, Arizona, member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, and a volunteer with No More Deaths, a non profit benevolent association (www.nomoredeaths.org), is a humanitarian extraordinaire. The young man, for the past 5 years, has participated in cleaning the environment by picking up the litter left in the Sonora desert preserves and depositing life saving jugs of water for the les miserables from Mexico who trek across the Sonora desert into the U.S. in search for jobs and human dignity. Without pay these volunteers, in the infernal desert heat, minister to the underprivileged among their fellow men that die from dehydration as they seek economic refuge in our country.

At the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, a designated refuge in the Sonora Desert, where the previous day a dehydrated body of a Mexican migrant had been found, this last December, Walt and his companions, as they were leaving carrying the empty water containers they had previously left behind and other trash, were cited for ‘knowingly littering’ by leaving jugs of water in strategic locations intended for the migrants crossing the desert. The citation issued by the park ranger carried a fine of $175, which Walt refused to pay.

Humanitarian deeds, which are harmless in themselves, and ‘wrong’ only because they are prohibited by government edict, cannot possibly be criminal acts deserving fines, confinement and other criminal sanctions. “I am moved by my faith as a Unitarian Universalist to be engaged in this work along the border. It’s an important social justice issue to be in solidarity with the courageous people who leave so much behind to try and build a more dignified life for themselves and their families,” Staton said.

The U.S. prosecutors sought the maximum penalty against Staton, a $5,000 fine and 3 years probation in addition to an injunction. “The obvious conclusion is that the defendant and No More Deaths wish to aid illegal aliens in their entry attempt …His actions are not about humanitarian efforts, but about protesting the immigration policies of the United States," the presentencing memo to the Judge said. Arguing that Staton had "haphazardly left water for illegal aliens, drug smugglers and/or dangerous felons," prosecutors succeeded in persuading a judge to prohibit him from setting foot in the refuge during his probation.

The bottom line: An innocuous ‘littering’ regulation sought to protect the environment and natural habitat of the desert was used as a subterfuge to punish the humanitarian efforts of the good Samaritans whose concern was the suffering and threat of dehydration to the migrants in order to ‘enforce’ U.S. immigration laws.

The idealistic and benevolent humanitarian had no clue as to the government criminalization of its citizens in order to promote a hidden agenda. As previously reported in this online publication, America leads all nations in the arrest, conviction and punishment of its citizens, for instance the U.S. has 35 times more inmates than Japan, even though Japan is less than half the population of the U.S.

Regrettably, Walt failed to understand that we are a country of laws – laws for every trivial act – the violation of which is a criminal act punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both. He was bit aware that our criminal justice system is a government within a government, gaining power and economic might, a mega billion dollar per year institution, among law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, prison custodians and probation/parole administrators. The continuing growth of which can only be sustained by new laws and increasing arrests, prosecution and punishment.

If the trivial rules and regulations cease to exist, so will the arrests and prosecutions. Freedom and civil liberty, are the anathema of the criminal justice system. Stanton had no clue when the justice system fell on him.

He was arrested, charged, prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department and just recently found guilty. He received a stiff sentence imposed by Federal Magistrate Jennifer Guerin consisting of unsupervised probation for one year and 300 hours of hard labor - community service picking up trash on public lands. He was also banned from entering the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge during his probation time.

He and his supporters who packed the courtroom this last July were shocked beyond comprehension: “How could humanitarian, good Samaritan, good deeds, be classified as criminal conduct and punished as such?

Is not Natural Law – God’s Law – which teaches us to love our neighbor, not the supreme conscience of man? Is this happening in the United States?” Religious institutions, Catholic and Protestant, Jewish and Muslim, across the land are shocked. And so is every American with a sense of human dignity, social justice and civil liberty.

Young Staton is a cause célèbre. He did not ask for this role. But he has awakened America’s conscience by pointing to the injustice in our justice system, its abuses, and the run away train that it has become. It’s time to reign in the excess in our criminal bureaucracy, regain our civil liberties and reset our moral compass.

In the process we need to ask ourselves: Which is the higher law, God’s Law or Man’s Law, when these are in conflict with each other as in Walt’s case? Is not our Constitution inspired by and based on God’s Law? Are we going to allow our country to criminalize humanitarianism? Each of us needs to reflect on these issues and be guided by our conscience.

Walt knows the answer. He will continue his humanitarian efforts.

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Sal Osio is the Publisher of HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: SPosio@aol.com