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Casper, Wyoming -
Monday, August 22, 2005
PHOENIX -- An Arizona ranch that once served as the headquarters for a civilian group watching for illegal immigrants has been turned over to two people caught trying to enter the United States illegally.
The ranch was conveyed to satisfy a judgment against its owner, Casey Nethercott, a member of a self-styled border-watch group that seeks to protect private property from illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico. Nethercott had been accused of terrorizing the immigrants when he and others caught them in Texas.
Morris Dees Jr., co-founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the immigrants, said he hoped the ruling would serve as a cautionary tale to landowners or civilian patrols.
"When we got into this case, ranchers all along the border were allowing these types to come on their property," Dees said. "Now, they're very leery of it, especially when they see someone losing their ranch because of it."
The ruling comes as the governors of Arizona and New Mexico declare states of emergency in their border counties, moves designed to free up money for enforcement while drawing more national attention to the problems of illegal immigration.
The transfer of the Douglas, Ariz., ranch outraged border-watch groups.
"If the federal government was doing its job, ranchers would not be living in fear," said Chris Simcox, president of Minuteman Civil Defense Corp., a group that watches for illegal immigrant crossings and reports them to the U.S. Border Patrol.
"They can't even protect their own property for fear of these frivolous lawsuits when people are trespassing on property," he said. Ranchers "are held captive by the federal government who tells them, 'Well, we can't protect you but you can't do anything to protect yourself."'
Simcox disputed the notion, however, that the ruling would deter other landowners from welcoming civilian watch groups. He noted that the Minutemen have a policy against touching the migrants and use video to document their patrols.
Nethercott was part of another group called Ranch Rescue and had founded a group called the Arizona Militia, which he based at his 70-acre ranch in Douglas, Ariz.
In March 2003, Nethercott, who had previously been convicted of assault in California, was accused of pistol-whipping an illegal immigrant as he and other people from Ranch Rescue patrolled a ranch in Hebbronville, Texas. A jury deadlocked on the charge but convicted him of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Edwin Alfredo Manc D ia Gonz Dales, the man who accused Nethercott of hitting him, and another immigrant traveling with him from El Salvador, F Datima del Socorro Leiva Medina, filed a civil lawsuit last year saying they were harmed while being held by Ranch Rescue members.
Named in the suit were Nethercott; Jack Foote, the founder of Ranch Rescue; and the owners of the Hebbronville ranch, Joe and Betty Sutton.
The Suttons settled for $100,000, Dees said. Nethercott and Foote did not defend themselves, he said.
So in April of this year, a Texas judge issued default judgments of $850,000 against Nethercott and $500,000 against Foote.
Nethercott, serving a five-year prison term for the firearm conviction, transferred ownership of his Douglas ranch to his sister. But the sister gave up ownership of the ranch to settle the judgment when challenged by the immigrants' lawyers.
A message left for Nethercott's family in Prescott and his attorney in Texas were not immediately returned Friday.
Dees said his clients plan to eventually sell the property, which Nethercott bought for $120,000, but would allow humanitarian border groups offering aid to immigrants to use it for now.
Manc D ia and Leiva declined through Dees to speak to the media.
"They were terrorized. They suffered enormous post-traumatic stress," the attorney said.
Both immigrants remain in the United States and have applied for special visas available to some immigrants who are crime victims.
Illegal Aliens Awarded Arizona Ranch
