Global Environmental Speaker Series: Cultural Geographer

“Humanitarian Aid on Trial: Migration, Religious Freedom, and a Geographical Perspective in the 2018 Federal Case Against Volunteers in the US-Mexico Borderland”

In 2018, several humanitarian aid volunteers working in the Arizona-Mexico borderland were charged with misdemeanor crimes for leaving water in the desert. Separately, humanitarian aid volunteer and geographer Dr. Scott Warren was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol and charged with the felony crime of harboring for having given “food, water, clean clothes, and beds” to two men from Central America. In this talk, Dr. Warren shares key points and perspectives from his experience as a defendant in these federal trials. Trials that ended in full acquittal for volunteers after a not guilty verdict from a jury, the dropping of certain charges, and a successful defense based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Each year, the Department of Geography, Environment, & Sustainability, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Global Studies Program partner to bring noteworthy speakers and scholars to Richmond to present lectures related to our global environment. This event is co-sponsored with the will+GSS Speaker Series.

All events are free and open to the public.