If you needed any further evidence that the world is upside-down when it comes to US immigration law, take a look at this [5]:
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. ...
Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday. ...
The article goes on to point out that Barnett has rounded up over 12,000 (yes, you read that right) illegal aliens on his property since 1998.
Helping us get to this point of insanity is, you guessed it, a federal judge. In this case, Judge John Roll, who rejected a motion by Barnett's attorney's to throw the case out because, you know, the plantiffs are ILLEGALS, lacking the rights of US citizens.
So what drove the rancher to the point of "enforcing his own border"? Read on...
Mr. Barnett told The Washington Times in a 2002 interview that he began rounding up illegal immigrants after they started to vandalize his property, northeast of Douglas along Arizona Highway 80. He said the immigrants tore up water pumps, killed calves, destroyed fences and gates, stole trucks and broke into his home.
Some of his cattle died from ingesting the plastic bottles left behind by the immigrants, he said, adding that he installed a faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank so the immigrants would stop damaging the tank to get water.
Mr. Barnett said some of the ranch´s established immigrant trails were littered with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil - which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their "clients" to keep them running. ...
"This is my land. I´m the victim here," Mr. Barnett said. "When someone´s home and loved ones are in jeopardy and the government seemingly can´t do anything about it, I feel justified in taking matters into my own hands. And I always watch my back."
How is this any different from any other citizen holding trespassers (and in this case criminals) until the law arrives? It's not. That's the point here.
And given that the government hasn't been fullfilling it's function of protecting his life and his property, (which is, after all, the whole purpose of government), he's more than entitled to do it himself.
But here we have a government, courtesy of an over-abused legal system, doing the exact opposite; putting his property (potentially millions of dollars) and the life he can live if he loses it at risk.
It's an outrage.
