“Vigilante” Landowner Roger Barnett Acquitted After Holding Immigrants At Gunpoint
20 February 2009, 2:15 PM. By Camilla Rowan
In 2004, Arizona rancher Roger Barnett held a group of 16 illegal immigrants at gunpoint when he found them on his ranch. Now, five years later, a federal jury finally decided on a verdict, and found Barnett “not guilty.”
The court ordered that Barnett pay four of the plaintiffs (all women) $73,000 for assault and emotional distress, but found that he had not violated their civil rights by detaining them at gunpoint on his land.
The women, with the support of the other detained immigrants, argued that they suffered emotional and physical distress from the incident. They say Barnett threatened to shoot anyone who tried to run, kicked one woman who was lying on the ground, and at one point said in Spanish, “My dog is hungry and he’s hungry for buttocks.”
Barnett (who has gone on ABC’s Nightline and said “They’re flooding across, invading the place, they’re going to bring their families-we don’t need them,”) is infamous for being an immigrant “hunter” on his ranch, where he’s set up sensors throughout the trails and patrols his land armed with a shotgun. However, he likes to think of himself as the victim, since his land is often used as a crossing point for immigration from Mexico. He complains that immigrants crossing his land have vandalized his property and argues, “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.”
What’s particularly scary about this case- and it’s not the first time Barnett’s been charged with this kind of abuse- is that his attorney’s argument hinged on the idea that immigrants don’t have the same rights as a U.S. citizen. Obviously that’s true to an extent, but when it comes to something like “the right to not be held at gunpoint and threatened with obscenities”…well, that just seems like a basic human right we should all be able to agree on.
Mixed verdict for rancher in migrant case [LA Times]
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I’ve been keeping up with this in the AZ republic since it started being reported on. What is really alarming is the ferocity in which people defend the mans actions. I come from Chicago and the contrast in which I hear people talk about immigration from there as opposed to AZ is like night and day. I don’t know if its a matter of the closer you are to the border, the more you hear rabid and frenzied talk of the anti-immigrant propaganda. It’s hostile down here y’all.
And where was the legal system and government for the last 10 years when this man’s property and livestock were being destroyed? Also a “basic human right” is to own land and keep trespassers out. I bet if 1,000 people walked through your backyard strewing garbage, killing your animals, and breaking into your garage you’d be singing a very different tune my friend.