What the hell is wrong with this country?

[Aubie16]

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

Why wasn't this case thrown out the minute it was filed?

Part of the Article:

16 illegals sue Arizona rancher
Claim violation of rights as they crossed his land

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.

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.

[Snaggletiger]

I'm with ya' 16.  It just seems there has to be more to it than this.  Hopefully, the people on the jury will have sense enough to toss this shit out and send them back home.  By the way, if they're illegal in the first place, how in the hell are they allowed to participate in a trial in this country...unless they're the defendants.   

[Aubie16]

I'm with ya' 16.  It just seems there has to be more to it than this.  Hopefully, the people on the jury will have sense enough to toss this shit out and send them back home.  By the way, if they're illegal in the first place, how in the hell are they allowed to participate in a trial in this country...unless they're the defendants.   

You know, I did think about the fact that there is probably more to this story that isn't being said. It just irks me that someone can be sued for an incident that happened on their own property with people that are trespassing to begin with.

[CCTAU]

Dead men can't sue. If every invader that crossed our border illegally were to be shot, or the threat of death, then these issues would not even exist. Why can't an individual defend his own land? Why can't a country defend it's own border? How does an illegal alien have "CIVIL" rights?

[ssgaufan]

If you kill them, there's only one side of the story that's gonna be heard.