Quote:This is an older article, but illustrates the problem there.  Please explain to me how 16 illegal immigrants can sue a rancher that owns property next to the border.  This rancher has to pay legal fees in order to defend himself.

I don't see how that would be any different than a homeowner walking out to the edge of his property and holding vandals/trespassers at gunpoint until the police arrived. The trespassers don't get to sue you because you turned them over to the cops, so the simple act of ordering them to stay put while the Border Patrol worked their way over wouldn't have been a civil rights violation of any kind.

 

That said, if he actually did threaten to shoot anyone that tried to leave the scene, he's overstepped his bounds and most likely committed a crime as well as a civil rights violation. There's a fine line between holding someone for the police and kidnapping them, and if he crossed it, there's a case to be made against him. I'd be curious to see what the ultimate resolution of the case was. I suspect it was ultimately either thrown out or ruled in favor of the farmer.

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