Let Em' In!

Yesterday, I heard the most outrageous story that I have ever heard...ever. Roger Barnett, a rancher in Arizona, has made it a mission of his for the past decade to stop illegal aliens from entering our country through his property. His ranch, Cross Rail Ranch, spans 22,000 acres in southern Arizona and has become a hot spot for illegal aliens hoping to cross into the United States. During the week, he works in his office near Sierra Vista. On the weekends, he can be found at his ranch near Douglas; this is the time that he catches intruders. During the past 10 years worth of weekends, he estimated that he has prevented 14,000 illegal immigrants from entering our nation by turning them in to the border patrol. They vandalized his property by breaking into his water tank (in which he installed a faucet to prevent further damage), stealing trucks, killing calves, destroying fences and gates, and breaking into his home. They also littered his ranch 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.

Now, in our litigious society, he is being sued by these intruders for "severe emotional and mental distress," including fear, anxiety, humiliation, stress, frustration and sadness because he decided to right this wrong. The incident in question occurred in 2004, when he approached illegal aliens with a pistol and a dog for his protection against immigrants and drug smugglers, who are often armed. Oh, and he allegedly kicked a woman. Roger Barnett addressed that particular accusation on Fox last night, saying that she was unresponsive while sitting on the ground, so he nudged her in the foot. Many of the aliens are residents of Michoacan, Mexico. Four live in Illinois, one resides in Georgia and another in Michigan. All of the plaintiffs currently living in the U.S. listed pseudonyms in the lawsuit due to "fear of adverse action based on immigration status." Ten of the illegal alien plaintiffs didn't show up to the trial, but the remaining six said they were given permission to re-enter the United States and testify against Barnett. Each of the 16 illegal aliens sued for $1 million in punitive damages and $1 million in actual damages. Some of the charges were dropped, but Mr. Barnett is still being held liable for $77,000 in damages. However his attorney, David Hardy, plans to appeal the case siting the following argument:

"The law is skeptical of infliction of emotional distress because everybody gets their feelings hurt at times," he said. "So one of the requirements was that whatever is done must be so severe that the average person would be physically disabled by the distress – suffer a complete mental breakdown. The judge wouldn't put that in the instruction. That's straight Arizona law."

On top of that the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) paid upward of $1 million for 9 attorneys - many of whom were from a New York law firm, to represent these people.

Are you freaking kidding me?! How in the world do non-citizens have the same rights in this country as hard working, tax paying citizens? When did we lose the right to bear arms? When did we lose the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? This man did not hurt anybody and was simply defending his property. As far as I can tell, he has done as much as the entire border patrol in keeping illegals out of our country; why hasn't he won some sort of "I Am Awesome" award? And how out of control has our law system become, that these kinds of issues are occurring? This defies all logic and rationale.

You can find some more information about this from the professionals at the Washington Times and the World Net Daily.