Roger Barnett, the rancher in Douglas, Ariz., ordered on Feb. 3 to pay $87,000 to illegal aliens he detained at gunpoint on his property, says he will appeal the ruling, which came from the notoriously left-wing Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The kangaroo court ruledagainst Barnett on all the particulars of his appeal, and even found that the illegals had suffered post traumatic stress order.
Barnett’s trouble at his Cross Rail Ranch began in 2004, when more than a dozen illegals showed up on his property. Fearing for his safety, he drew his gun to hold the illegals at bay. Once he knew they were no danger, he holstered his weapon.
No matter. The pack sued, and with the help of the left-wing Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, received the judgment against Barnett. But Barnett had good reason to fear the band of Mexican vagabonds. One of them was a previously deported drug dealer.
Since 1998, Barnett has detained some 12,000 illegals for the border patrol. They have trashed his property, killed livestock and broken into his home. He installed a water faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank because they repeatedly damaged it trying to get a drink.
In February, 2009, a jury gave the illegals what they wanted: a pile of cash.
Thus, Barnett’s appeal to overturn the ridiculous judgment, which the Ninth Circuit turned down. Among Barnett’s key arguments was that he drew his gun in self defense because he feared for his life. As his attorney David Hardy said after the decision, “[w]hat they [judges] missed was that once he saw they were harmless, he holstered his gun. When the Border Patrol showed up, [the pistol] was in his holster.”
As well, Hardy said, the FBI had warned Barnett that his life was in danger, much as they warn Americans that certain national parks near the border a no-go zones for tourists and travelers.
Whole areas of his land have been covered in trash left behind by people crossing on it illegally. Some are parties of illegal entrants, sometimes there are groups of 40 or 50. He has drug smugglers come through too. They take vehicles and plow through his fence.
So Barnett will request a rehearing on his case, before he has to cough up $87,000 to the border jumpers.
Barnett isn’t the only rancher illegals have looted with the help of left-wing lawyers. Casey Nethercott, another rancher, lost his ranch when illegals sued him with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In another instance of illegal-alien anarchy last week, an immigration raid uncovered a band of illegal-alien workers living within the walls of a Veterans Administration hospital in Florida that is still under construction.
Authorities used thermal imaging devices to detect the roach-like workers.
(Click here to help Roger Barnett’s legal defense.)
