Marc Lacey of the New York Times offers "Water Drops for Migrants: Kindness, or Offense?" [1] about supposed religious groups that leave water in the Arizona desert for illegal crossers. The title and the article itself present a false choice: this issue isn't just a matter between relatively minor infractions and humanitarian concerns as Lacey pretends.

The other issue - the one Lacey ignores - is that those leaving water in the desert are in effect encouraging people to cross. Those groups are not working to reduce illegal immigration nor are they working to discourage people from crossing. Instead, they're acting like sociopaths: standing on the other side of something dangerous and encouraging people to cross. And, some of them don't make it.

See the false compassion page for more information, examples of others doing the same thing, and something you can do about this.

[1] nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/27water.htm