ACLU member Ray Ybarra feigning an attempt to tear down U.S.-Mexico border fence in April 2005 (Photo: American Friends Service Committee)

The American Civil Liberties Union failed an attempt to remove volunteers with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps from Arizona state land.

Ranch owner Pat King, whose property includes some state trust land she leases, told the Arizona Daily Star newspaper the ACLU officials who instigated the complaint don't care about her.

"So they are not really the American Civil Liberties Union are they? Because they don't give a darn about what has happened to my constitutional rights to property," King said.

King, according to the Daily Star, called the ACLU members misguided, out-of-town youngsters who don't understand what people and drug smugglers have done to her land and the valley.

About 60 ACLU members have been monitoring the Minuteman volunteers since the beginning of a monthlong patrol April 1 south of Three Points, Ariz., on King's private Anvil Ranch.

The ACLU's Ray Ybarra complains the volunteers shine high-powered flashlights on them as they drive by.

But the Minutemen claim the ACLU members have harassed and berated them and interfered with Border Patrol apprehensions.

The president of the Minuteman Arizona chapter, Stacey O'Connell, said the border group is considering legal action.

The paper reported Ybarra contacted the Arizona State Land Department about the Minuteman presence on state trust land without permits.

An Arizona official showed up Monday night to visit the volunteers.

The issue was resolved, according to O'Connell, when volunteers presented valid permits and others promised to get them right away online.

"Nobody was escorted off state land, nobody was asked to leave," O'Connell told the Daily Star.

Ybarra said he heard, via radio communication, the Arizona official telling the volunteers they needed state permits to be on trust land, even with permission from the ranch owner.

But deputy state Land Commissioner Richard Hubbard said the state employee was mistaken. The volunteers had a right to be there because they were invited by the ranch owner to do work in addition to their patrols.

Ybarra, nevertheless, called the events this week suspicious and said he will continue to probe the state permit law.

The ACLU has expressed concerned over "the potential for taking actions and ... attempting to enforce immigration laws."

The Minutemen say, however, they only are reporters of illegal crossings to the Border Patrol.

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