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  #1  
Old 02-09-2009, 02:00 PM
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illegals sue Arizona rancher

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/

16 illegals sue Arizona rancher
Claim violation of rights as they crossed his land
Jerry Seper (Contact)
Monday, February 9, 2009




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.

His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

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 lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog.

Attorneys for the immigrants - five women and 11 men who were trying to cross illegally into the United States - have accused Mr. Barnett of holding the group captive at gunpoint, threatening to turn his dog loose on them and saying he would shoot anyone who tried to escape.

The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which also charged that Sheriff Dever did nothing to prevent Mr. Barnett from holding their clients at "gunpoint, yelling obscenities at them and kicking one of the women."

In the lawsuit, MALDEF said Mr. Barnett approached the group as the immigrants moved through his property, and that he was carrying a pistol and threatening them in English and Spanish. At one point, it said, Mr. Barnett's dog barked at several of the women and he yelled at them in Spanish, "My dog is hungry and he's hungry for buttocks."

The lawsuit said he then called his wife and two Border Patrol agents arrived at the site. It also said Mr. Barnett acknowledged that he had turned over 12,000 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol since 1998.

In March, U.S. District Judge John Roll rejected a motion by Mr. Barnett to have the charges dropped, ruling there was sufficient evidence to allow the matter to be presented to a jury. Mr. Barnett's attorney, David Hardy, had argued that illegal immigrants did not have the same rights as U.S. citizens.

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.

He said he carried a pistol during his searches for the immigrants and had a rifle in his truck "for protection" against immigrant and drug smugglers, who often are armed.


A former Cochise County sheriff´s deputy who later was successful in the towing and propane business, Mr. Barnett spent $30,000 on electronic sensors, which he has hidden along established trails on his ranch. He searches the ranch for illegal immigrants in a pickup truck, dressed in a green shirt and camouflage hat, with his handgun and rifle, high-powered binoculars and a walkie-talkie.

His sprawling ranch became an illegal-immigration highway when the Border Patrol diverted its attention to several border towns in an effort to take control of the established ports of entry. That effort moved the illegal immigrants to the remote areas of the border, including the Cross Rail Ranch.

"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."

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Old 02-09-2009, 02:21 PM
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Disgusting what some lawyers will do in this topsy-turvy society of ours.

The rancher should have shot them on sight,stone dead hath no fellow.
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Old 02-09-2009, 02:29 PM
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He should be rounding them up and helping them fill out the proper documents to become productive tax paying citizens!

What a load of crap that a "case" like this should even see the inside of a court room.
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Old 02-09-2009, 02:33 PM
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This is all so very wrong! When a man can't defend his property something is very very wrong!!!! Next Time he might just shoot them the only persons story who matters is the one thats left alive.
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:11 PM
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Oh come on, what can you expect.Here we have a Gringo and a white man at that of the landed aristocracy trying to prevent the poor indiginous people of color from accessing the riches of the so called Estados Unidos. How dare he claim to even own this land which was created by Gaia long before white men came to this land. The land should be free for anybody to use regardless of who claims owership.

I hope they take this Gringo squatter on indiginous lands and strip him of his ill gotten properties and make him work as a rach hand for the rightful owners of the land.

How does that sound?
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:18 PM
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Now, aholt on there fellers! Before you guys decide to canonize Mr Barnett, perhaps you ought to understand the full facts of the case and previous history.

Barnett does not "own" the 22000 acres of property. He leases it from the state of Arizona as "grazing land". He has a small spread in the center of the ranch where his house sits.

In a previous incident, Mr. Barnett held four Hispanic Americans at gunpoint who were legally hunting on the property (State land, remember). Needless to say, the justice system took a dim view of his defense of, "They were armed and I felt threatened".

A "successful" towing business is not what I would ever call Barnett's Towing. Through his contacts in the Sheriff's department he pretty much received a monopoly on all the business from any state highway, police call and pretty much set his price for someone to get their car back minus any property or items which were not welded down.

A suit was filed, the towing contract was put up for bid and he lost it. He retired to his spread and decided to return to his ranching pursuits. Barnett's Trucking filed bankruptcy and is no more. One contract should not make a "succesful" business.

I feel for the man because I know what a trash heap the illegals make of their trails and he should have the right to defend his property and standard of living but driving along state owned land and essentially perorming the duties of law enforcement strikes me as just a bit of vigilanteeism.

Reporting the illegals to the border patrol, yes, taking the law into his own hands, no!
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels View Post
Oh come on, what can you expect.Here we have a Gringo and a white man at that of the landed aristocracy trying to prevent the poor indiginous people of color from accessing the riches of the so called Estados Unidos. How dare he claim to even own this land which was created by Gaia long before white men came to this land. The land should be free for anybody to use regardless of who claims owership.

I hope they take this Gringo squatter on indiginous lands and strip him of his ill gotten properties and make him work as a rach hand for the rightful owners of the land.

How does that sound?
Ya-Nooooooooo, ok, this is ridiculous. you have illegal immigrant coming into your land that you pay taxes on, that you take care of and they are trashing and looting his property. I am starting to think why do we even have a border potral, if we are going to let these illegals get away with sueing a man that was doing no different than the border patrol would do. While you are on US land and should have rights, you are on US land illegally and you have no rights. put those people in the back of a truck and get there sorry a$$ back to mexico where they belong. If they want to come to America do it the right way.
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:51 PM
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Is judge obligated to hear every case that comes before them or can they effectively say piss off?

- Peter.
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:55 PM
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Maybe some lawyer that is not constipated could explain to me how come all those illegals got *STANDING* to sue in a Court in the USA for this.


And WHY.


This is REALLY messed up. grrrrrrr
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Old 02-09-2009, 03:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pj67coll View Post
Is judge obligated to hear every case that comes before them or can they effectively say piss off?

- Peter.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, there are several mechanisms for getting a case kicked before it gets "heard" by a Judge. There are many, many more cases tossed on Summary Judgment, ect.....than actually go to trial. It appears this case has progressed beyond that point.

Not blowing you off (its just a lengthy subject), but if you google summary judgment, I'm sure Wiki or somewhere similar will list reasons a case can be tossed in a concise form.
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Old 02-09-2009, 04:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Mike D View Post
Now, aholt on there fellers! Before you guys decide to canonize Mr Barnett, perhaps you ought to understand the full facts of the case and previous history.

Barnett does not "own" the 22000 acres of property. He leases it from the state of Arizona as "grazing land". He has a small spread in the center of the ranch where his house sits.

In a previous incident, Mr. Barnett held four Hispanic Americans at gunpoint who were legally hunting on the property (State land, remember). Needless to say, the justice system took a dim view of his defense of, "They were armed and I felt threatened".

A "successful" towing business is not what I would ever call Barnett's Towing. Through his contacts in the Sheriff's department he pretty much received a monopoly on all the business from any state highway, police call and pretty much set his price for someone to get their car back minus any property or items which were not welded down.

A suit was filed, the towing contract was put up for bid and he lost it. He retired to his spread and decided to return to his ranching pursuits. Barnett's Trucking filed bankruptcy and is no more. One contract should not make a "succesful" business.

I feel for the man because I know what a trash heap the illegals make of their trails and he should have the right to defend his property and standard of living but driving along state owned land and essentially perorming the duties of law enforcement strikes me as just a bit of vigilanteeism.

Reporting the illegals to the border patrol, yes, taking the law into his own hands, no!
Mike, can you point to any news stories/court records/other sources for this side of the story? I'm interested in fleshing it out from both sides.....

Thanks!
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Old 02-09-2009, 04:07 PM
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Originally Posted by ramonajim View Post
Mike, can you point to any news stories/court records/other sources for this side of the story? I'm interested in fleshing it out from both sides.....

Thanks!
There's loads of Google results:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Roger+Barnett+rancher&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a
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Old 02-09-2009, 04:23 PM
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Thanks for posting the Google links!

Oh and by the way, I am very much "anti-illegals". I don't see them as innocents searching for a better way of life. I admire them for crossing 100 miles of desert to get jobs at less than minimum wage but they are still illegal. Apply for a visa, get a job and pay taxes like the rest of us poor slobs.
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Old 02-09-2009, 06:17 PM
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oh hell no, I hate when the illegals pull this sh**. They start biotching about their rights? What rights? I'm sorry but if you're not from this country and you're trying to get in illegally then you don't get this country's rights.

What would Mexico/Mexicans have done if it was some illegals from Guatemala? They would have thrown them in jail and probably killed them. Why do we have to be boarded with them? ugh

es tut mir leid, aber ich hasse mexico....
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Old 02-09-2009, 06:48 PM
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I agree with JD . . . the case probably survived a motion for summary judgment, which means that the defendants were not entitled to judgment as a matter of law . . . the long way of saying that the plaintiff's have the minimal elements of a legal claim.

We've been over this aspect of the law several times . . . in general, except for your dwelling or for the prevention of imminent serious bodily injury . . . the use, or threat of use, of deadly force is not sanctioned by the law.

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