---
[ IMPORTANT READS ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads)
# Putting Good Samaritans Behind Bars
May 30 2019
Written by Jim Hightower.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
**IMMIGRATION 2019 STYLE**-Let us now contemplate the morality tale of the Good Samaritan. Not the one in the New Testament, but the one out in the high desert region around Marfa, Texas, just 60 miles from the Mexican border.
It’s the story of Teresa Todd, the city attorney in Marfa. On February 27, she was driving home on a dark road when, suddenly, three young Central American migrants desperately flagged her down.
She could’ve just sped on, but the bedraggled migrants — two brothers and their sister — looked about the same age as Todd’s own teenage boys. So she instinctively turned around and went back because, as she put it, “[I can’t leave a kid on the side of the road](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-migration-lawyer-criminal-charges-helping-asylum-seeker-texas-teresa-todd-a8909386.html).”
Forced from their home by gang threats, the three refugees had become lost in the Texas desert, had run out of food and water, and the sister had fallen deathly ill. Putting them in her car, Todd was frantically trying to get medical help when — luckily? — a sheriff’s deputy pulled up behind them.
But — unluckily — the deputy was not there to help. He called the Border Patrol and turned the young refugees over to ICE. The officers also confiscated Todd’s purse, arrested her for suspicion of “transporting illegal aliens,” hauled her to a holding cell, and later seized her phone.
“It was totally surreal,” she said.
It still is. Even though she’s not been formally charged, federal officials say the incident remains “an active case,” and they’re still contemplating criminal charges against her.
“This is all about trying to chill people from helping others,” Todd says. “I’m simply a mom who saw a child in need and pulled over to try to help.” During her ordeal, she says she kept thinking: “What country am I in? This is not the United States.”
No, indeed, it’s Donald Trump’s un-American, disunited state of autocracy. We need to build a wall around him.
*(OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. Distributed by [OtherWords.org.](http://OtherWords.org)) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.*
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/115 "Brian Goldsmith Vertical R. Col")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/114 "McKinney Campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Last Name
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/113 "Rhonda Haymon campaign")
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/election-2024/33624-prosecutor-democrat-city-attorney-mckinney-makes-his-case-to-los-angeles-voters)
### [Prosecutor, Democrat, City Attorney? McKinney Makes His Case to Los Angeles Voters](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/election-2024/33624-prosecutor-democrat-city-attorney-mckinney-makes-his-case-to-los-angeles-voters)
ELECTION 2026 - The race for LA City Attorney has been laced with political accusations and allegations that when close…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/la-watchdog/33544-the-la-watchdogs-2026-voters-guide-2)
### [The LA Watchdog’s 2026 Voter Guide](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/la-watchdog/33544-the-la-watchdogs-2026-voters-guide-2)
LA WATCHDOG - My recommendations are influenced by the need for truly balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility, long ter…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33626-the-fools-blame-game)
### [The Fools’ Blame Game](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33626-the-fools-blame-game)
THE VIEW FROM HERE - Angelenos do not use elections to plot a wiser course of conduct for Los Angeles, but rather they…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33619-california-film-tax-credits-arent-enough-the-guilds-need-to-change-too)
### [California Film Tax Credits Aren’t Enough. The Guilds Need to Change Too.](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/los-angeles/33619-california-film-tax-credits-arent-enough-the-guilds-need-to-change-too)
LONNIE’S VIEW - California used to be the center of the movie and television universe. If you wanted to make movies, yo…
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/voices/33648-heres-what-zionisms-got-to-do-with-it)
### [Here’s What Zionism’s Got To Do With It](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/voices/33648-heres-what-zionisms-got-to-do-with-it)
ICAN - The anonymous website “BHUSD Watch” recently published a long, detailed article about the current BHUSD board an…
---
## [ IMPORTANT READS ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33661-living-in-los-angeles-with-education-debt-what-financial-priorities-matter)### [Living in Los Angeles With Education Debt: What Financial Priorities Matter?](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33661-living-in-los-angeles-with-education-debt-what-financial-priorities-matter)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33633-what-a-vaginal-microbiome-test-reveals-about-your-overall-health)### [What a Vaginal Microbiome Test Reveals About Your Overall Health](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33633-what-a-vaginal-microbiome-test-reveals-about-your-overall-health)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33563-tenant-lawsuits-offer-rare-glimpse-into-an-l-a-landlords-cash-for-keys-operation)### [Tenant Lawsuits Offer Rare Glimpse Into an L.A. Landlord’s ‘Cash for Keys’ Operation](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33563-tenant-lawsuits-offer-rare-glimpse-into-an-l-a-landlords-cash-for-keys-operation)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33571-stop-comparing-october-7-to-the-holocaust)### [Stop Comparing October 7 to the Holocaust](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33571-stop-comparing-october-7-to-the-holocaust)
[  ](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33521-making-the-case-against-the-times)### [Making The Case Against the Times](https://ded2209.inmotionhosting.com/~citywa9/important-reads/33521-making-the-case-against-the-times)