More Photos (1):

Related articles:

Lawyer: Aid to migrants was legal Hearing on charges against border activists postponed Hearing ends in case of two entrant helpers

Other articles by Stephanie Innes:

Slayings of rabbi and wife in Mumbai stunning to peer who lives in Tucson Grace and grit en pointe Sahuarita hospital plans scrapped UA killer gets life, no parole Bank robber who shot cops could spend life in prison Jury convicts robber who shot at Tucson police officers 1 teen killed; 2 families' lives shattered Driver in fatal '07 crash gets 36 years Nursing home fined for array of violations Hospital plans are on ice in Sahuarita and Nogales

Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic

A hearing on whether two volunteer aid workers charged with transporting undocumented migrants should go to trial was scheduled to continue this morning.

Shanti A. Sellz, 23, and Daniel M. Strauss, 24, face prison time if they are convicted of felony charges that they violated the law July 9 when they were caught by the U.S. Border Patrol driving three illegal entrants from the Arivaca area to Tucson. Defense lawyers are seeking dismissal of the charges.

Sellz and Strauss maintain the entrants were in need of immediate medical assistance, and that they followed the protocol of the faith-based No More Deaths movement by calling a doctor before deciding to transport the men to Tucson.

Federal prosecutors say the entrants weren't in dire need of medical aid, and that Sellz and Strauss were unlawfully aiding the men's illegal entry.

No More Deaths attorney Margo Cowan testified Thursday in the U.S. District Court hearing that No More Deaths protocol is within the parameters of federal law, which says it is against the law to assist illegal entrants "in furtherance" of their illegal entry into the country.

She said it is not illegal to give entrants humanitarian aid or to drive them to get medical help in dire situations.

No More Deaths provides food, water and medical assistance in the summer months to illegal immigrants who cross the border from Mexico into the United States by foot.

Cowan said No More Deaths made 68 "medical evacuations" from Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, 2005, and that the Border Patrol was aware of them.