Related articles:

Hearing ends in case involving two who transported migrants Duo's entrant-aiding hearing gets moved back to Tuesday Hearing on charges against border activists postponed Entrant-transport charges contested

Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

Testimony in a hearing on whether to dismiss charges against two volunteer aid workers charged with violating federal immigration law wrapped up Tuesday, and now U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernardo P. Velasco is weighing a decision.

Jeff Rogers, the attorney for defendant Daniel M. Strauss, said two weeks would be about average for the judge to issue a decision, though since Velasco has been ill Rogers speculated it could take longer.

Velasco's decision will be a recommendation to U.S. District Judge Raner Collins, who then is expected to rule on whether the case will go to trial. The original trial date of Tuesday was postponed, and no new date has been set.

Shanti A. Sellz, 23, and Strauss, 24, face charges that they knowingly and intentionally conspired to transport illegal entrants while volunteering for the local faith-based No More Deaths movement, which during the summer provides food, water and medical aid to people entering the United States illegally on foot. The pair say they were taking three entrants to get emergency medical care when they were arrested July 9 en route from the Arivaca area to Tucson.

Prosecutors say the illegal entrants were not seriously ill. But Sellz and Strauss say they contacted a nurse and a doctor before transporting the men and that they were following No More Deaths protocol, which calls for medically evacuating illegal entrants to Tucson if they are seriously ill. Prosecutors say the protocol was never approved by federal officials and that Border Patrol officials had warned religious leaders in April that they'd risk arrest if they transported migrants.

— Stephanie Innes