Volunteer Leaves Water for Migrants in the Desert and Gets Ticketed for Littering

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When Dan Millis stumbled upon the dead body of 14-year-old Salvadoran migrant Josseline Hernandez Quinteros, he was just doing what he does: leaving water on behalf of the organization “No More Deaths” for immigrants crossing the Arizona desert. “The only safe way for migrants to cross through these militarized zones is on foot,” Millis told ColorLines. “They’re taking superhuman, 100-mile hikes.”

The water is a simple but profound gesture. In the eyes of at least one Fish and Wildlife officer, however, it’s littering. Or so says  the $175 ticket issued to Millis two days after he discovered the corpse of the young girl, when he was on yet another water drop.

A federal judge ruled against the litterer, but offered no punishment. “Last summer,” writes Julianne Ong Hing, No More Deaths volunteers “had face-to-face contact with 580 migrants, giving them food, water or medical attention. It’s a statistic … that does not count the untold numbers who empty the canisters of water and supplies left along the trail by humanitarian aid groups every night.”

Source: ColorLines

Image by misskel, licensed under Creative Commons.

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