Get off my land! On Wednesday, March 6. 2024, HipLatina published this headline, “Arizona Republicans Advance Bill Allowing Ranchers to Kill Migrants Trespassing.”
For decades now, the migrant community has faced many acts of violence due to the U.S.’s anti-immigration policies. Even before Latin American migrants reach the U.S., they face many challenges including harsh weather conditions, hunger, and the risk of being caught and deported. Or worse, being killed or, as it happened just earlier this year, drowning in a river without life-saving intervention from nearby authorities. Most recently, the Arizona Legislature is in the process of advancing a bill that would make it legal for a land owner “to kill or threaten to kill people who cross their property to illegally enter the U.S.,”. Sponsored by Republican Rep. Justin Heap, the bill’s goal is to provide a legal loophole for ranchers to be able to kill trespassers on any section of their property, not just within a mile of their home. As the majority of people who have to be on ranches to cross into the U.S. are migrants, it would effectively make it possible for landowners to kill them and face no legal repercussions in court.
“It’s terrifying. It would give people free rein to execute somebody and it would broaden extrajudicial killings,” Democratic Rep. Analise Ortiz Ortiz told NBC News. “This is part of a broader anti-immigrant movement that we’ve seen coming from the right, which aims to dehumanize and vilify people who are coming to this country seeking asylum.”
“They use the word kill so right away it will draw some into feeling pity for these invaders”, said Thomas Robb, the National Director of the Knights Party of the Ku Klux Klan, based in Harrison, Arkansas. “Your property is just that, yours. You should have the right to defend what’s yours, and your property should be included. First off, this isn’t immigration, it’s an invasion. What these people want isn’t ‘asylum’. Many want what is yours. What you worked for. Everyday on the news you see where our government is making up programs to give these invaders things that we had to work for. Homes, money, healthcare, clothing, food, cell phones, education, and the list goes on and on. These are our tax dollars. With that being said, if you don’t want these invaders using your land as a point of entry, then you should have the right to put an end to it. Once these people see that you will not tolerate having your backyard invaded, they will stop. Suppose you have children. Would you feel safe leaving your kids in the yard knowing it’s used as a passageway by these mostly criminals? Of course not. How would you feel having friends over for a backyard barbecue and here comes a pack of criminals running through the yard! I think this is a great idea. In any type of invasion there will be casualties. You can either protect what’s yours. or become one of those casualties. If you want to be generous about it, mayber you could post signs in your yard saying ‘At the price of ammo, I can’t afford to give you a warning shot.” If they can’t read English, maybe they shoudn’t invade a country that English is it’s native tongue.”