opinion

Montini: Did Border Patrol retaliate against aid workers?

You could argue it’s a coincidence.

Then again, you could argue it’s revenge made to look like coincidence.

Which seems more likely. To me, anyway.

A volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths was arrested on a federal harboring charge only hours after the group released a report and videos showing Border Patrol agents emptying or destroying water bottles left in the desert for border crossers.

Thousands have died in the desert over the years. The Border Patrol has an official policy of not destroying the humanitarian aid. But the agents in the videos didn’t seem particularly worried about getting into trouble.

It was an embarrassing display of inhumane behavior and a black eye for the agency.

Coincidence? Seems a bit of a stretch

So, did agents punch back?

Volunteer Scott Daniel Warren was busted hours after No More Deaths released its report. Agents said they surveilled a building in Ajo and arrested Warren for providing food, water, beds and clean clothes to a pair of migrants.

The attorney for Warren said that humanitarian groups had a deal with the Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's office that such assistance would not get them arrested.

Lawyer Bill Walker said,"We don't smuggle them, we don't do anything to help them enter the United States, we do nothing illegal. This place that they raided is not in the middle of the desert, it's not hidden anywhere. It's in the city of Ajo, and it's been used for a long time, not to help smuggle migrants, but to give medical care and food and water."

Timing of arrest pours water on theory

Do you think, maybe, that after No More Deaths released it damning report and videos the Border Patrol decided all bets were off?

"It felt retaliatory in that it occurred less than eight hours after our press conference releasing these findings that implicated Border Patrol," volunteer Caitlin Deighan said. "But we can't confirm that with certainty."

No, not with certainty.

But who believes in coincidence?

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