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Sat 06 Jun 2009Dying to reach the US
MAGAN'S WORLD:IN A BAR near the University of Arizona in Tucson a few weeks ago I met a man called Dan Millis who had found the body of a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador in the desert last year. Two days later, while out on the same trail, leaving jugs of water for other migrants, he was charged with littering by the US Fish Wildlife Service.
He fought the charge on the grounds that humanitarian aid is not a crime, but his appeal was over-ruled. It appears that the US federal and district courts indeed regard it as a crime – in fact, going to the aid of any sick or injured migrant can be classed as aiding and abetting.
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