“An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border. Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.” MALDEF, the famous Ford Foundation-founded litigation group, is representing the plaintiffs. [Jerry Seper, Washington Times]
9 Comments
At what point does one become too disgusted to be outraged? Lunacy assails us from all sides.
Illegal aliens who are trespassing on a man’s land don’t have “civil rights”. How does one “conspire” with oneself?
What’s Barnett supposed to do? Set up a lemonade stand and point the way down the yellow brick road?
What do we call illegals now? Enemy combatants with benefits?
I suppose I’ll break with liberal orthodoxy and say that I support only the most basic of civil rights – human rights, really – for illegals. They don’t belong here, and I’m on the rancher’s side on this one.
This lawsuit should immediately be dismissed. If they allow the lawsuit to continue and the illegals prevail, it might create an incentive for ranchers to just shoot, shovel, and shut up.
When the government won’t protect a property owner from trespassers who leave a trail garbage and destruction, then the property owner has a right to defend his property. The rancher was turning the illegals into Border Patrol.
Yes, and upon dimissal, there should be penalties & sanctions for the attorneys/”foundations” that file garbage like this – and they should have to EAT all of the rancher’s defense fees.
The WALDEF (White American Legal Defense Fund) will be picking up the rancher’s defense, right?
Crickets…
Amazingly, this story has made only one major newspaper. Every American of every race should be outraged. This guy had every right to be pointing a gun at these people for trespassing on his land.
Beyond that, they are invaders. Where is our government? The government should not be spending a dime, let alone 20 trillion dimes, on any other project until it has secured the borders. Protecting the people is the #1 role of the United States government, and our executive is doing nothing and our congress has done nothing. Our judges are more a part of the problem than solution (see CA prop 187). Even Arizona’s own John McCain worked to destory the solution when congress once half-heartedly addressed the situation. Who will protect us when our three branches of government have utterly failed?
We need to raise up state militias and defend ourselves again, the way we did in the 18th century. We might as well forget about the US military defending us at home; Where are they during this invasion? Relying on this government will get us nowhere. This rancher is a hero, and most of the rest of us should be ashamed of ourselves.
LAW: You Know Times Are Tough When…….
…law firms start suing former associates who leave. …law firms are called in to handle clients’ disputes with Somali pirates. Meanwhile, Judge Reindhardt is calling out incompetent criminal appellate lawyers (you gotta click through to the opinion…
This whole situation is ridiculous. Evidently the Constitution and the Bill of Rights mean nothing in the USA anymore. I agree that Roger Barnett should be regarded as a hero; if he has really captured 12,000 illegals then maybe he should be receiving the wages of all the Border Patrol agents that it would take to capture a similar number of illegals.
I also agree with most everything people have said on this forum, however I do take offense at Media Scatters comment about our military – that “we might as well forget about the US military defending us at home …”. Lest we forget where our military is currently situated, a good portion of them are on foreign shores fighting 2 wars (yes that is right, count them 2 wars, plus multiple police actions in various other countries) left to us by our illustrious former President, George Bush. I seriously doubt that many of them actually wish to be in foreign lands being shot at by “insurgents” (AKA pissant little barbarians) or dodging IEDs, while their families back home are losing their houses because they cannot afford the mortgages (wow, I guess the average soldier’s salary of $19,000 doesn’t go as far as it used to).
In addition, please don’t forget Border Patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos who finally received a pardon from good old Bush after 2 FRICKIN YEARS in prison for protecting our country from ILLEGAL DRUG TERRORISTS. However even though they will be “free” in March, they still face fines and probation. As Glen Beck says, “To protect and serve time”. And we as American’s elected Bush not once, but twice!!! What the hell were we thinking!!!
Evidently in this country and now across the Globe (please see Israel vs. Hamas) it is expected that you let other people bully you and abuse you and you are supposed to like it and smile. Bend over and let them have their way with you, otherwise you may go to jail. D@mn politicians! While I’m thanking Bush for his wonderful influence on this wonderful state of affairs, I would also like to thank Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, for assisting in the timely release and pardon of John Forte and Dallas Austin, two felons convicted of drug trafficking. Nicely done Mr. Hatch!!!! I sleep sounder at night knowing that you and the idiots persecuting our rancher and Border Patrol agents have our backs!
To all the good people fighting to protect America and our way of life, my heart and prayers go out to you. However, I think you have as much to worry about from our politicians as our national enemies .
[…] “A federal jury on Tuesday afternoon ruled that an Arizona rancher did not violate the civil rights of 16 Mexican nationals he detained at gunpoint after they had snuck illegally into the United States in 2004, but the jury awarded $78,000 in actual and punitive damages to six of the illegal immigrants on claims of assault and infliction of emotional distress.” [Jerry Seper/Washington Times, earlier] […]