Thread: 'No More Deaths' volunteer charges tossed

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/144915

'No More Deaths' volunteer charges tossed
Judge says two workers were told actions had OK
By Djamila Grossman
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.02.2006
A federal judge dismissed indictments Friday against two No More Deaths volunteers who were charged with transporting illegal entrants to get medical care in July 2005.

Shanti A. Sellz and Daniel M. Strauss were facing prison time in the high-profile case that was scheduled to go to trial next month.

Attorneys for Sellz and Strauss, both 23 at the time of their arrests, had asked for the charges to be dismissed twice, most recently arguing that the two were being selectively prosecuted.

The two had previously rejected a plea offer with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins said the two were following guidelines that border volunteers had been using for several years without being arrested.

Sellz and Strauss were arrested July 9, 2005, near Arivaca after they were stopped by Border Patrol agents with three illegal entrants in their vehicle.

They were volunteering with No More Deaths, a faith-based group that during the summer provides food, water and medical aid to illegal entrants walking in the desert.

The two said they were following a "protocol" they'd been taught by No More Deaths, checking with a lawyer and a doctor by telephone before they began driving the entrants, whom they described as being severely dehydrated and ill.

The pair did not call 911 or the Border Patrol, as that was not part of the protocol they'd been taught. They were taking the entrants to a medical clinic.

Sellz and Strauss were indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy to transport and transportation of an illegal alien.

Collins ruled that Sellz and Strauss had been told by No More Deaths officials that they could transport sick illegal entrants under certain conditions.

"They were assured that the 'protocol' had been approved by Border Patrol and that the transportation for these medical purposes was not a violation of the law," Collins wrote.

The judge wrote that in the three years before 2005, "no one was arrested and prosecuted for following the protocol."

Collins said his ruling doesn't address whether the guidelines No More Deaths was using at the time broke the law. No More Deaths has since changed its guidelines for volunteers who encounter illegal entrants in distress.

In a court filing, federal prosecutors asked the judge not to dismiss the charges against Sellz and Strauss, saying that No More Deaths representatives had been told in April 2005 by Border Patrol officials that "enforcement action would be taken if a volunteer were to transport illegal aliens."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Irene Feldman, who was prosecuting the case, said in the court papers that "there is no evidence of selective prosecution and it's entirely proper for defendants to be prosecuted."

No More Deaths leaders hailed the decision. "This is a great moment for the borderlands," the Rev. John Fife said. "It is now established that humanitarian aid is not a crime."

It is important to realize that the Border Patrol and humanitarian efforts play two different roles at the border and each party needs to be allowed to act "under the law," he said.

Since the incident last summer, there have been no other incidents between No More Deaths volunteers and the Border Patrol, he said.

Sellz's attorney William Walker called Collins a "fair shooter."

"This has been a horrendous ordeal for (her)," he said of Sellz. "To be charged with a crime for her was devastating."

A Border Patrol spokesman could not be reached for comment.
On StarNet Search our database of illegal immigrants who have died along the border at azstarnet.com/ border

● Contact reporter Djamila Grossman at 307-0579 or dgrossman@azstarnet.com.

This one goes back to last year. Here are a bunch of past articles and discussions on the case.

Group now cooperating with Border Patrol on rescues

Trial of immigrant aid volunteers delayed indefinitely

No More Deaths pair fail to get case dropped

Hearing on charges against border activists

Hundreds protest charges vs. 2 humanitarian workers

Border activists say they knew law

Group wants charges dropped against aid workers

Colo. "Samaritans" accused of transporting immigrants

Two driving illegal immigrants arrested

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5360268&nav=HMO6HMaY


Click Here to Watch Video

Erica Heartquist Reports
'No More Deaths' worker says she'd do it again

Sep 3, 2006 05:41 AM PDT


Now to the controversial story surrounding a pair of volunteers with the group, "No More Deaths."

Last summer, Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss were accused of transporting three illegal immigrants into the United States.

Sellz and Strauss claimed that they were helping the migrants get medical care, but Border Patrol officials believe they were helping the immigrants enter the country illegally.

Now, all charges against the two have been dismissed.

A district judge says Sellz and Strauss were following the same guidelines that border volunteers had been using for years without getting arrested.

On Saturday, Sellz broke her silence and talked only to News 4's Erica Heartquist.

------

News 4 caught up with Shanti Sellz just hours after she heard the news that all charges against her were dropped.

She told News 4 that although this past year has been a trying experience, she'd do it all over again if it meant saving a life.

"You know, it's still sinking in," said Sellz with a sigh.

Still sinking in that Sellz and friend Daniel Strauss are no longer facing up to 15 years in prison in the high profile case that up until Friday was going to trial.

Sellz says it's been a rough year, "It's humiliating and it makes you, it puts you in a place to feel bad and no matter how Daniel and I both have very strong convictions and we know that we have never committed a crime and that our actions will never be illegal and can never be illegal."

Attorneys for Sellz and Strauss had asked twice that the charges be dismissed.

"I can summarize the decision very briefly. It is simply that the government having permitting this, and I'm paraphrasing now, having lead them to believe that what they were doing was not illegal and would not violate the law- can not then all of a sudden change its position and prosecute them for doing that which the government said they could do," said Sellz's attorney, Stanley Feldman.

The pair was volunteering with "No More Deaths," providing food, water, and medical aid to illegal entrants walking in the desert.

Sellz says her actions that day were solely humanitarian, "By the point that we found them- they were so physically ill and so dehydrated that the only thing that could be done was to take them to a hospital."

Sellz says while the judge's decision to dismiss the charges at the Federal Courthouse, Friday is certainly a start, she says it doesn't set the precedence she was hoping for.

We tried unsuccessfully to reach the prosecutor in this case.

Jesus Rodriguez with the U.S. Border Patrol had this to say, "Transport people illegally in the country. If we catch them- we're going to still continue doing what our job is and that is- if we have to, we'll arrest them and send them to hopefully get prosecuted."

According to court documents, prosecutors asked the judge not to dismiss the charges against the pair saying that "No More Deaths" representatives had been told prior to their arrest that enforcement action would be taken if a volunteer were to transport illegals.

Never ever transport an illegal in your car or anyone else that you do not know for that matter, you open yourself up to all kinds of law suits if you do!
Give first aid as you know it and call EMS/911 for help.
This way you are protected under the good samaritan law and Border Patrol will not arrest you.