Posted on 12/04/2009 7:13:15 PM PST by SmithL
Tucson, Ariz. (AP) -- A judge has threatened to sentence an Arizona man to 25 days in prison for leaving jugs of water in the desert for illegal immigrants.
A federal jury in June convicted Walt Staton of Tucson of littering in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.
. . .
Staton is a member of the group No More Deaths, which supports humanitarian aid along the border. He was scheduled to be re-sentenced Friday after he told a U.S. magistrate last month that he objected to the court's punishment on moral and legal grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I’m for keeping out illegals, that is my bound duty to my country.
However my bound duty to Jesus Christ and God is to give someone dying of thirst water. Period.
No one on Free Republic or a judge can convince me otherwise. The guy didn’t let them stay in his home, he didn’t give them a ride across the border. He left water so that those already here wouldn’t die. Prison is ridiculous for this.
I think this guy may have been featured on a National Geographic Explorer episode on the NatGeo Channel. He leaves cartons of bottled water at stations under scrub mesquite trees.
When I was working in the oilfields in Texas and when I was working on our ranch out here, Illegal Mexicans used to come right up to the drilling rigs or where we were herding and ask for food and water. I am all against illegal immigration but I won’t deny a hungry man some of my food or a thristy man some of my water.
It seems that I missed this..”U.S. magistrate”.
The problem is that maps are sold in Mexico showing where the water is, while the ranchers who own the land pour it our when they come across it, so you have people showing up expecting something that isn’t there (with potentially disastrous consequences). There is no reason to encourage these illegal immigrants; let them line up like the others who want in (who are probably worth more just by the fact that they respect our laws enough to wait for proper documentation).
That’s sick. Anyone who would risk their life crossing a desert to come work in this country makes a d@mn site better American than the many indolent ungrateful slobs who enjoy each unemployment extention and eagerly await the advent of free healthcare merely because they had the blessing to be born here.
A friend of mine in Tucson came across a family of illegals in his wanderings in the boonies. He gave them a couple of jugs of water and continued on his way.
Once he reached cell-phone service he called in their GPS coordinates to the Border Patrol.
Mom says, "you never know who may be an angel."
Let them die, coyotes need dinner plus if they are dead they can't steal medical care and jobs from Americans!
“We pluck bobbing Cubans out of the Atlantic.”
Snd senmd them straight back to Cuba!
Exactly! No problem in reporting criminal activity, but to allow people to thirst to death in the desert... nope. Goes against my faith.
Putting water out encourages more to come over.
Sort of like putting out catfood on your front porch each day to feed the starving strays.
If God had wanted us to live in such places, He would have made water accessible there.
That sounds like a man that has not lived with, drank with, and worked with illegals. Have you ever frequented illegal bars with your illegal friends and seen what that culture is really like? It is deadly brutal, and knife based.
Crossing deserts to get past our laws, casually living in a world of forged documents and escaping detection by the tax system and policemen, lying to employers, that isn't noble stuff, that is the lifestyle of the least noble.
You are talking about people with a very casual attitude about morality and decency and the laws.
Oh I forgot, Mexicans and Latinos are good. Any other nationality is bad
ColdWater? Are you sure you are on the correct side of this discussion?! ;)
This guy was jailed for setting water out. My friend gave water to a family that he came across in the middle of the desert.
I originaly thought that setting water out is wrong, while giving water directly to someone in need is okay, and then alerting the authorities. I guess that because you KNOW these folks are doing something illegal, and you are helping them do that illegal activity, it is not okay. (With the water just set out alone.)
At our church we give out gift cards to fast-food places. Cash is too obvious of a thing to be used to help the folks that drop by as it can be used for poor choices, or illegal things. We used to give out cards to the grocery stores until someone pointed out that they could buy wine and cigarettes with them. (Back in college I would make up small packages for the homeless with cheap socks, gloves, a hat and a pack of Marlboro’s!)
And I’m not going to be the one to bring up the fact that they could sell their $5 Wendy’s gift card for $4 and go buy drugs with it!
I am not on the side of these guys. Which side are you on?
"Workers and their families currently living in the US must have access to a program of legalization that offers equity-building paths to permanent residency and eventual citizenship for workers and their families."
For aiding and abetting criminals to enter the USA a 25 day sentence is a joke. Make it 25 years... to life.
Same here. I'd call the Border Patrol to give them some water.
Not true. Short Federal terms are generally served in county jails.
That was Bush’s plan and I agree.
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