If you needed any further evidence that the world is upside-down when it comes to US immigration law, take a look at this:

An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home. ...

Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday. ...

The article goes on to point out that Barnett has rounded up over 12,000 (yes, you read that right) illegal aliens on his property since 1998.

Helping us get to this point of insanity is, you guessed it, a federal judge.  In this case, Judge John Roll, who rejected a motion by Barnett's attorney's to throw the case out because, you know, the plantiffs are ILLEGALS, lacking the rights of US citizens.  read more »

Well, well.  Guess who else who's been criticizing Arizona's new immigration law hasn't read it?  Try that state's ex-governor, our Homeland Security Director Janel Napolitano.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admits she hasn't read the Arizona immigration law, but passed judgment on it anyway. "That's not the kind of law I would have signed," she declared.

"I believe it's a bad law enforcement law. I believe it mandates and requires local enforcement and puts them in a position many do not want to be placed in," Napolitano said.

"When I was dealing with laws of that ilk, most of the law enforcement agencies in Arizona at that time were opposed to such legislation," she claimed.

Check out the video at Real Clear Politics.

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In the wake of Arizona’s passage of its new immigration enforcement law, the inflamed, uninformed and irresponsible rhetoric coming from the open-borders crowd and supposedly respectable politicians who should know better seems to have grown by the day.

From the NY Times to the Washington Post to Barack Obama himself, there has been an avalanche of gross mischaracterizations of the law, inferring that it would allow police to simply stop anyone who “looks different” on the street and demand to “see their papers”.

The use of this phrase is no accident, but an intentional reference to authoritarian (and usually socialist) countries where the police have the right to stop anyone and demand, “Let me see your papers”.  It is at least somewhat comical, given that most of the people who are complaining the loudest about Arizona’s new law have recognizable tendencies towards socialism, the most high profile example being Obama himself.  read more »