Arizona Republicans want to let ranchers in southern Arizona legally shoot and kill undocumented immigrants who cross their land.
A bill moving through the state House of Representatives would make changes to the state’s existing “Castle Doctrine” law, which permits Arizonans to use deadly force against people who are trespassing or breaking into their home.
Rep. Justin Heap, a Mesa Republican, told the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 14 that his House Bill 2843 is designed to close a loophole that he claims has led to “increasingly larger numbers of migrants or human traffickers moving across farm and ranch land.”
The bill comes as an Arizona rancher awaits trial after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault for killing 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Butimea after he shot at a group of unarmed migrants walking through his 170-acre ranch outside of Nogales. Under its provisions, 73-year-old George Alan Kelly could have been justified for allegedly killing any of the migrants.
