Border Patrol arrests ASU faculty member, volunteer in Arizona
Jan 22, 2018, 7:04 PM | Updated: Jan 23, 2018, 6:41 pm
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
PHOENIX — A volunteer for a group that offers aid to immigrants crossing the desert has been arrested in southern Arizona.
The arrest of Scott Daniel Warren on a federal harboring charge came several hours after the group No More Deaths released videos last week showing some Border Patrol agents kicking over water bottles left for immigrants.
Group volunteer Caitlin Deighan stopped short of calling the arrest retaliation, but said she believes it looks suspicious to have charged Warren so close to the release of the videos.
The Border Patrol didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Deighan’s claim that the timing of the arrest was suspicious.
Warren was arrested Wednesday after agents conducted surveillance on a building in Ajo where two immigrants were given food, water, beds and clean clothes.
At the time of his arrest, Warren was employed as a faculty associate at Arizona State University and taught an online course called Global Change, the school confirmed in a statement.
However, the statement said Warren was not “acting in his capacity as an ASU employee at the time of the alleged incident and we have no reason to believe it will impact his ability to fulfill his current duty with the university.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.