Is leaving water bottles for migrants in the desert litter or a Christian act of mercy? According to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the answer is “ambiguous.”
Nevertheless, they voted 2-1 to overturn the conviction of a volunteer who left water jugs for migrants in a federal refuge. The court ruled that it was “ambiguous as to whether purified water in a sealed bottle intended for human consumption meets the definition of ‘garbage.’ ”
The Fish and Wildlife Service maintains that the jugs are litter and continues to prohibit them on the lands it maintains.
Daniel Millis, one of those cited for littering, has a different perspective:
As for spoiling the environment, he said he collected as many jugs as he left behind. He also recounts how he found the dead body of a 14-year-old Salvadoran girl near the refuge days before he was ticketed.
“People are part of the environment,” he said.
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Posted by Tammy Alexander 
