Border Crossers Awarded Ranch

Border crossers awarded ranch
Lawsuit charged its former owner terrorized the two with civilian patrol
By BETH DEFALCO
Associated Press

PHOENIX - A border-area 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 land transfer is being done to satisfy a judgment against the ranch's owner, Casey Nethercott, member of a border-watch group that seeks to protect private property from illegal immigrants entering the southern U.S. border. Nethercott had been accused of terrorizing the immigrants when they were caught in Texas.

Morris Dees, 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 land owners or civilian patrols considering hostile measures against border crossers.

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 the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp., which watches for illegal immigrant crossings and reports them to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Simcox disputed the notion, however, that the ruling would deter other landowners from welcoming civilian watch groups.

In March 2003, Nethercott 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.

Edwin Alfredo Mancía Gonzáles, the man who accused Nethercott of hitting him, and another immigrant traveling with him from El Salvador, Fátima del Socorro Leiva Medina, filed a civil lawsuit last year saying they were harmed while being held.

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. In April, a Texas judge issued default judgments of $850,000 against Nethercott and $500,000 against Foote.

Nethercott transferred ownership of his Douglas ranch to his sister. But the sister gave up ownership to settle the judgment.