[Lamplighter]

NY Times article

Water Drops for Migrants: Kindness, or Offense?

Two years ago, Daniel J. Millis was ticketed for littering after he was caught
by a federal Fish and Wildlife officer placing gallon jugs of water for passing immigrants
in the brush of this 118,000-acre preserve.

“I do extreme sports, and I know I couldn’t walk as far as they do,”
said Mr. Millis, driving through the refuge recently.
“It’s no surprise people are dying.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit weighed in on Mr. Millis’s appeal this month,
ruling that it was “ambiguous as to whether purified water in a sealed bottle
intended for human consumption meets the definition of ‘garbage.’”
Voting 2-to-1, a three-judge panel overturned Mr. Millis’s conviction.

Throughout southern Arizona, the death toll totaled 1,715 from 2002 to 2009,
with this year’s hot temperatures putting deaths at a record-breaking pace.

But opponents say the water drops are encouraging immigrants to continue to come across the border illegally.
The critics say there ought to be Border Patrol agents stationed near the water stations
to arrest those who are crossing illegally as soon as they finish drinking.
So furious are some at the practice of aiding immigrants that they have slashed open the water jugs,
crushed them with their vehicles or simply poured the water into the desert.