The immigration scene

The House and Senate turnover in January should get us a little farther away from xenophobic blather and maybe a lot closer to a comprehensive immigration plan. In the meantime, meanness continues to metastasize in one town after another across the land. The latest crusade: to turn renters into criminals if they rent to undocumented people.

But there are blessed signs of hope too, the latest one popping up here in Southern Arizona. This week a Superior Court jury in Cochise County -- long home to a bevy of racists -- declared rancher Roger Barnett guilty on a number of charges including unlawful imprisonment and assault. The civil judgment demands he pay almost $100,000 in damages. In October 2004, Barnett, his wife and his brother stopped Arturo Morales and four others (all US citizens and the youngest only nine years old) on property he leases from the state. He yelled racist obscenities and pointed his loaded assault rifle at them, threatening to kill them.

Roger Barnett, who claims he has detained 10,000 immigrants, is a hero to border vigilantes. His kind of vigilantism has been carried out in Cochise County for years, but local authorities have shown little interest in prosecution. This jury decision -- they deliberated for three hours -- just might put on the brakes and save some lives.