GREEN VALLEY, AZ -- Charges have been dropped against two men arrested for conducting a prayer vigil at the U.S.-Mexico border in August.
Quaker peace activist, 54-year-old John Heid and 72-year-old Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Jerome Zawada, were headed for trial Wednesday in Green Valley.
The Tucson men were cited Aug. 6 for refusing to leave a communications tower along the virtual fence west of Arivaca where they were praying about deaths of migrants in the desert.
Heid said he was "disappointed" the charges were dropped and hoped to ask in court why the government wasn't investigating the deaths of illegal immigrants crossing the desert.
The Border Patrol reported at least 207 deaths of people presumed to be illegal immigrants in the 2009 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
