16 illegal aliens sue Arizona rancher over their ‘civil rights’

Roger Barnett has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his land in Arizona. He is now being sued by 16 Mexicans 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.

In 1998, Barnett began rounding up illegal immigrants and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home. Federal and county law enforcement officials acknowledge his ranch, near Douglas, Ariz., is 'the avenue of choice' for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

The 16 illegals have sued Barnet for $32 million in actual and punitive damages. Also named are Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, the sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live.

The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which charged that Sheriff Dever did nothing to prevent Barnett from holding their clients at gunpoint.

U.S. District Judge John Roll has already rejected a motion to have the charges dropped, ruling there was sufficient evidence to present the matter to a jury. Barnett's attorney, David Hardy, has argued that illegal immigrants did not have the same rights as U.S. citizens.

'This is my land. I’m the victim here,' Barnett says. '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.'