Arizona Court Upholds Right of Border Area Citizens to Protect Themselves
For years, illegal alien advocacy organizations like the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) have used the threat of lawsuits to intimidate communities and individuals from protecting themselves, their communities and their property against mass illegal immigration. Even though such acts are perfectly legal, the cost of litigation scared off many.
Then MALDEF met the Barnetts: Brothers Roger and Donald and their families, who own an Arizona ranch close to the U.S.-Mexico border, and who have incurred thousands of dollars of damage to their property due to the trafficking of illegal aliens. With the help of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), FAIR’s public interest law affiliate, the Barnetts fought MALDEF in court and won an important legal decision for themselves and others who want to exercise their constitutional rights.
MALDEF sued the Barnetts, who in 2004 detained a group of 20 illegal entrants until the Border Patrol could take custody of them, alleging, among other charges, that they had violated the aliens’ civil rights. The civil rights conspiracy and private militia claims were so specious that Federal Judge John Roll simply dismissed them. The judge stated that illegal aliens have no constitutional right of travel within the U.S. and that it is reasonable for people along the border to assume that large groups of people they encounter hiding or trespassing are doing so with the aid of a smuggler, which is a felony.
In addition to being cleared on all but a few minor points of the lawsuit—which the Barnetts and IRLI are appealing—the dismissal of the civil rights charges clears the way for the Barnetts to seek attorneys’ fees from the plaintiffs. In addition to justice for the Barnetts, recovering attorneys’ fees would attach a hefty price tag to future attempts by MALDEF to use the threat of a lawsuit to intimidate citizens and communities along the border.
March 2009
