Border activist Walt Staton told a federal judge that he will not comply with his sentence of 300 hours of community service because his offense, leaving water jugs in a wildlife refuge, is a matter of international human rights rather than littering, as was charged.

Walt Staton

That stance could mean he will get up to a year in prison at his re-sentencing hearing, the soft-spoken theology student acknowledged in a telephone interview with Wick News Service.

“I’m telling the judge I’m not looking for a reduction of hours. I’m not going to do any hours or pay any fine,” Staton said. “This is a matter of international human rights. This is the message we want to send.”

Staton was convicted of littering in June. He had been cited in December 2008 by a Fish and Wildlife agent for leaving water jugs in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge west of Arivaca, where thousands of illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Staton was the second activist with the No More Deaths organization to be cited for placing water in the refuge and 13 more have been ticketed since.

The activists do not dispute putting the water jugs on the land, but said they were only leaving clean water for illegal immigrants as a humanitarian action because more than 200 immigrants have died this year in the Southern Arizona desert. They say federal immigration policy has funneled immigrants deeper into the dangerous Arizona desert and that government agencies are allowing migrants to die for lack of water.

On Nov. 2, Staton wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer C. Guerin to ask for a re-sentencing hearing, which was scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, at the DeConcini Federal Courthouse in Tucson.

Staton, 27, is a 2004 graduate of the University of Arizona and is studying theology in California. He acknowledged that he could be sentenced to prison, but said the risk of a harsher sentence is worthwhile to get out his message that U.S. border policies are leading to the deaths of hundreds of migrants a year.

In June, Guerin sentenced Staton to 300 hours of community service removing trash from public lands and a year of unsupervised probation.

In November, Staton wrote Guerin saying, “The court characterized my actions as ‘civil disobedience’ at the August 13th sentencing, and also used similar language during the proceedings of the trial. This is inaccurate, as civil disobedience refers to actions that intend to expose an unjust law by deliberately breaking that law.

“On December 15, 2008, I had no intention to violate the laws of the United States. As I testified on June 4, 2009, I do not believe the federal statue regarding littering is unjust, and I do not wish to challenge or change that law, as civil disobedience would suggest. Instead, my actions are better classified as ‘civil initiative.’ When a government fails to respect and protect basic human rights �” or, worse, is itself a violator �” it is the responsibility of citizens to act in defense of those rights,” Staton wrote.

Staton said by phone that the more resources the government places along the border in pursuit of its current policy, the more people die along the border. That policy, by failing to protect human life, requires citizens to actively oppose the government, he said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said any statements made by the government will be delivered before the court at the hearing.

Staton said that while he does not want to go to prison, he feels strongly that citizens must oppose government policies that they believe are inhumane and are leading to thousands of deaths, saying that was the lesson of the trials of Nazi leaders at Nuremburg following World War II.

(Contact the writer at pfranchine@gnews.com� or (520) 547-9738.)