Pam and Mark Warren were back in federal court in downtown Tucson Tuesday afternoon. They sat in Courtroom 6, in support of their 36-year-old son who was at the defendant’s table with his two attorneys.
The Warrens, who live in Surprise near Phoenix, have been here before and will return next month and who knows how many times after that.
Their son, Scott Warren, is on trial on felony charges, accused by the government of harboring two undocumented immigrants and of conspiracy to transport them. Scott, a volunteer for the Tucson-based humanitarian group No More Deaths/No Más Muertes, was arrested in January in Ajo, where he lives. If convicted, he could spend years in prison.
His parents are shocked at the government’s heavy-handed prosecution and the prosecutor’s description of their son.
Prosecutors described their son as deceitful, said the Warrens, whom I met the day after the hearing. “They called him a liar,” said Pam. That’s not their son, who was working as a geography instructor for Arizona State University when he was arrested but is no longer employed, the Warrens say.
“He’s been outstanding in cross-examination, which is difficult. He’s been unwaveringly resolute because he’s telling the truth. ... He doesn’t have to remember the narrative that the prosecution has cooked up in the recess of their lair,” said Mark Warren.
The arrest and prosecution of Scott is a critical turning point in the uneasy relationship that border humanitarian groups have had with the U.S. Border Patrol and other federal law enforcement agencies that police the border.
Since the emergence of No More Deaths and similar groups — Samaritans, Humane Borders, Colibrí Center for Human Rights and Coalición de Derechos Humanos — the federal police have largely remained hands-off with the volunteers who roam the desert providing water, food and medical aid to people in distress.
The federal government has previously arrested humanitarian workers. In 2005, Daniel Strauss and Shanti Sellz faced charges of illegally transporting three undocumented migrants. Strauss and Sellz were en route to a Tucson hospital from Arivaca when they were arrested. Charges were dropped when federal Judge Raner C. Collins ruled the government lacked sufficient evidence.
Since then, there have been minor skirmishes between the two sides. It escalated in January when No More Deaths released a blistering video and a detailed written report showing Border Patrol agents had systemically emptied and destroyed life-saving containers of water left by humanitarian volunteers.
That same day — six hours after the video went viral — the Border Patrol targeted Scott Warren, his Tucson defense attorney, Gregory Kuykendall, told U.S. District Judge Bernardo P. Velasco during Tuesday’s hearing to dismiss the charges.
“He’s a good person. He didn’t do anything wrong. There are still people doing the same thing. It was very odd how he was maybe singled out,” said Scott’s mother, a retired social worker.
The Warrens are bewildered by the government’s intense drive to try and convict their son, whose principles are to help people. While their son is not a religious person, Scott is spiritually motivated and moved by the migrants’ suffering and deaths in our deserts.
One of the earlier motions to dismiss charges was based on the grounds that the government violated Scott’s rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He qualified for religious conviction based on a sincerely held belief backed up by action.
When Scott goes to the desert, often with a religious person who gives last rites, and they find a migrant’s remains, Scott lies next to the body and sifts the sand through his hands. It’s done “as a reverence to that person’s life and where that life ended,” says Pam, adding that neither she nor her husband knew this until it was revealed in court.
When he finds an item that a migrant carried during their perilous border journey, Scott considers the items “sacred,” because it belonged to “someone who may have made it, or didn’t,” his mother said.
The judge rejected the argument to dismiss, but the Warrens were confident that they made their case. The Warrens are equally confident that their son stands on strong legal grounds for an acquittal, or a successful appeal should he be convicted.
“We’re completely on board and supportive with what he does and the mission of No More Deaths,” Mark said.
Nonetheless they are worried.
“Naturally our perspective and our stake is different than anyone else’s. We want him to prevail. We don’t want him to be convicted of a felony. We don’t want him to go to jail. We want him vindicated. And so does No More Deaths,” Mark said.
He added, “It’s very personal to us. There is a cause which we believe in and understand. But our primary cause is our son.”
No More Deaths has been deeply supportive of Scott, they said. It plans to organize volunteers and supporters, and blanket the city with No More Deaths’ signs with the slogan, “Drop the Charges.”
The Warrens understand what’s at stake.
“A win for him would be win for the volunteer workers,” said Pam. “A loss for him would be a loss for No More Deaths. They’ll have to fight harder.”
