Earlier this semester we read an excerpt from Salman Rushdie's Step Across the Line. One topic from this reading that struck me was the section about Roger Barnett, a self-appointed border patrolman since 1998. Barnett, now in his late 60's, owns the Cross Rail Ranch in Douglas, Arizona. This land is a popular gateway for illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, and Barnett boasts of capturing over 14,000 migrants on the land he owns or leases. He has spent $30,000 on the installation of electronic sensors throughout his ranch, with the hopes of locating and detaining as many illegal border crossers as possible. Barnett has been sued on various occasions for overstepping his rights through his vigilante ways. The court ruling of 2009 that Barnett must pay a total of $87,000 to 4 illegal immigrants was recently upheld. Barnett held these men and women at gunpoint while they were on his property and kicked one of the women. He does not hold the right to threaten unarmed and defenseless migrants and he is forced to pay the large sum due to the claims of assault and emotional distress by the immigrants. This ruling has caused many people in support of Barnett to react. My research on this topic lead me a disturbing extremeist website: Mexicans GO Home
This site features a page solely for Barnett and the final paragraph on his page is as follows:
Roger Barnett is a good man who has been put through hell because of the repeated failures of the federal government and the courts. Washington’s failure to secure the Mexican border permitted trespassers to enter the United States and violate Barnett’s home and his property. He has repeatedly seen trespassers at his ranch destroy fences and gates, kill calves, tear up water pumps, steal trucks, and break into his home. Barnett said he has rounded up as many as 86 illegal aliens in one night, turning those he captures over to the Border Patrol. For his efforts, he’s seen the federal courts, paid for with his tax money, used in an attempt to harass and bankrupt him. This is ludicrous. America needs more people like Roger Barnett and fewer groups like MALDEF harassing them with frivolous lawsuits.
Americans are certainly divided on this issue, and the hope of a consensus seems bleak. It will be interesting to see how legislature in the years to come affects the way Americans are permitted to patrol the border. How much power should the people be granted in "protecting" this land?
Sources:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/9/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/?page=all
http://mexicans-go-home.com/roger-barnett/
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/us/24border.html?pagewanted=all
Like we see in The Devils Highway there is a lot of pressure put on the Border Patrol to be on both extremes that people in our county fall into. The trick for them is to find equilibrium between the two sides, but even if they are able to find that people will always say they are being too harsh or not harsh enough. Roger Barnett takes what he thinks the failing of the Border Patrol into his own hands and has become a hero for extremists like himself. This post connects really well with the post Border Patrol in Question by Erin. The Border Patrol agents in question in that article would be considered heroes to the extremist groups but are condemned by the humanitarian groups. I wonder what type of solution would reconcile some of the extreme views in our country about the US/ Mexico Border.
ReplyDelete