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Events

Humanitarian Aid on Trial

General Programming

dateFebruary 9, 2026 timeMonday, 6:30pm EST location Columbia University, The Heyman Center
  • Registration required even for CU/BC ID holders

Cosponsors
  • The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities
  • Justice-in-Education Initiative
Organizer
  • Justice-in-Education Student Volunteers
Contact
email address [email protected]
Notes
  • Free and open to the public
  • Registration required.

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.

About the Speaker

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.