Human rights activists are urging the state Land Department to deny a grazing lease renewal requested by a Cochise County rancher who has gained notoriety for detaining illegal immigrants on land near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Border Action Network is protesting the department's possible renewal of a grazing lease for nearly 14,000 acres of state trust land controlled by rancher Roger Barnett's REB Enterprises.
"Our argument is the state Land Department should revoke the lease not only for his vigilante activities" but for also confronting hunters at gunpoint, said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network.
