Legal battle against those battling illegal immigration

Washington Times:

An Arizona rancher who has waged a five-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal aliens from crossing his property has been ordered by a civil jury to pay nearly $100,000 for a 2004 incident during which he confronted a family hunting on his land.
Roger Barnett, 62, who began rounding up illegal aliens after he said they destroyed his property, killed calves and broke into his home, was ordered to pay Ronald Morales, his father, his two young daughters and their friend on claims of negligence, false imprisonment and emotional distress.
The jury found in favor of all five plaintiffs, but split responsibility between Mr. Barnett, Mr. Morales and his father, Arturo Morales.
The Morales family had sought $210,000 damages in a lawsuit sponsored by two civil rights groups, the Border Action Network and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which accused Mr. Barnett of vigilantism and abusing the illegal aliens he detained. The jury settled on a damage award of $98,000.
...
Mr. Barnett's brother, Donald, said in a statement: "In the Morales family, the father taught the son to trespass, and now the father's teaching the daughters how to trespass in blatant disregard for the law. I guess in this country, private property and a person's rights don't mean much any more."
Donald Barnett had been named in the lawsuit, but later was dropped as a defendant.
Mr. Barnett's Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., has become a major route for northbound illegal aliens. The ranch sits in what Cochise County law enforcement authorities have called "the avenue of choice" for illegal aliens.
"Thousands of aliens have crossed my property," Mr. Barnett told The Washington Times in a September 2002 interview at his ranch. "There are so many that I can tell you that at times it looks like a slow-motion invasion."
Mr. Barnett said some of his cattle have died from ingesting plastic bottles left behind by the aliens and that some of the ranch's trails were littered with trash nearly a foot deep.
...
"This is my land. I'm the victim here," Mr. Barnett said.

Indeed. It appears he has been twice victimized. This certainly does not look like justice. It does look like a travesty. States need tp pass laws that deny any legal rights to damages for those that are on property illegally. The story gives no indication of what authority these people had to trespass. The lawyers representing the plaintiffs appear to have an open borders political agenda. In effect they are working to deny enjoyment of the owner's property rights and putting the rights of trespassers above the rights of the owner of the property.