The Heyman Center, Columbia University
Humanitarian Aid on Trial: The Harboring Law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and Undocumented Migration in the US-Mexico Borderlands
Dr. Scott Warren will speak on the topic of migration and humanitarian aid in the Sonoran Desert region of the U.S.-Mexico borderland. Specifically, he will discuss his arrest in 2018 by the U.S. Border Patrol for providing “food, water, clean clothes, and beds” to two men from Central America, and the subsequent trial in which he was ultimately acquitted on federal charges of harboring undocumented migrants. He will also share updates on the current state of humanitarian aid work in the borderland.
Scott Warren is a geographer and humanitarian aid organizer known for his work with No More Deaths in Ajo, Arizona, providing water, food and shelter to migrants in the deadly Sonoran Desert. His 2018 arrest for “harboring” was followed by a 2019 acquittal, affirming humanitarian aid as a moral imperative. He continues to document migrant deaths and provide aid, guided by his belief that all life is sacred.
