Sixty-seven percent of participants in the unscientific poll said humanitarian groups shouldn't be allowed to leave water bottles and 66 percent said they, like refuge officials, consider it littering to leave water jugs in the desert.
Most poll participants, 59 percent, also said they don't believe water stations in the desert help prevent deaths.
We also asked readers, ""How do you believe humanitarian groups should go about preventing deaths of border crossers without breaking any laws?"" Here is what some of them had to say:
• They should go to Mexico and persuade Mexicans not to come into the United States illegally.
• The humanitarian groups could hand out maps showing locations of existing wells, stock tanks, et cetera.
• I fully support what the humanitarian groups are doing. They leave life-giving water and then clean up trash. Just look at the recent deaths in the desert.
• These groups should work toward passing a sane guest-worker program so that poor people don't have to cross dangerous deserts or hire unscrupulous coyotes.
• It isn't littering if the No More Deaths people are there. Just as the Minutemen had a physical presence on the border when they were trying to affect the illegal-immigrant situation, No More Deaths should be willing to have a presence as well.
• Saving lives is vastly more important than preventing ""littering."" A good compromise would be more permanent, metal water stations, so it doesn't look like litter.
• Humanitarian agencies should form an auxiliary first-aid organization, reporting to the U.S. Border Patrol and the Mexican police, to staff stations on the border. This will eliminate the need for water stations.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/301297
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