New Bill Would Allow Border Ranchers to Shoot at Intruders

(ProsperNews.net) – A new bill in Arizona would allow ranchers to shoot illegal migrants trespassing on their land. HB 2843, sponsored by Republican state lawmaker Rep. Justin Heap, is a response to a high number of migrants crossing through private property to enter the US illegally. The legislation will alter the Castle Doctrine, which allows lethal force if a person unlawfully enters a home, and expand it to cover the land surrounding the home.

Mr. Heap said the bill will “fix” the current law, noting that for a rancher or farmer, their home can be “half a mile away” from the intruder and there is presently no law that permits the rancher to remove trespassers from their land.

Praising the legislation, Republican lawmaker Rep. Alex Kolodin called it a “Second Amendment bill” that will clarify self-defense and remove ambiguities.

The proposals come as Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly faces murder charges for shooting a migrant on his property near the US border. Police charged the 75-year-old with second-degree murder and aggravated assault last year when he shot 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, from Nogales, Mexico. Prosecutors said he randomly shot at a group of migrants as they crossed through his land in the Kino Springs area of the Grand Canyon State.

Mr. Kelly’s defense team, however, said he fired several warning shots into the air, and that he feared for his own and his wife’s safety.

In January, Kelly refused a plea deal that would have sent him to prison for eight years, and his trial is due to commence in late March.

Democrats have hit back fiercely against the new legislative proposals, which passed through committee stage along party lines, saying it amounts to “open season on migrants.” Phoenix Democrat Rep. Analise Ortiz said HB2843 is “terrifying” and part of a wider anti-immigration sentiment that villainizes and demonizes those seeking asylum in the United States.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee spokesperson Abhi Rahman said it will encourage Arizonians to shoot first and ask questions later.