Cochise Rancher Must Pay Damages to Kidnapped Migrants
Read it all here.
Cochise County rancher Roger Barnett cannot escape paying punitive damages to border crossers he kidnapped, despite a 2011 state law passed to help him, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge Frank Zapata acknowledged that Arizona voters approved a constitutional measure in 2006 that anyone not in this country legally is ineligible to collect punitive damages after winning a lawsuit.
That came too late for Barnett, however, who was sued following a 2004 incident when 16 illegal immigrants said the rancher illegally imprisoned them while they were crossing his property. One woman also said she was kicked.
So last year, the Legislature voted to make the ballot measure retroactive to the start of 2004.
Armed with that law, Barnett went back to federal court to void the $60,000 in punitive damages four of the plaintiffs were awarded two years ago.
Zapata rejected his arguments.
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It’s heartwarming to see the racist Arizona Republicans lose one.
For the background and history, here are previous Pages on the subject:
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From the SPLC:
In a documentary released last year [2005], El Inmigrante, Roger Barnett expresses his fears of unchecked immigration, namely that “the white race is going to be gone.”