Posted on 04/03/2005 4:51:20 PM PDT by mdittmar
Volunteers for an effort to patrol the Mexican border reported their first sighting of suspected illegal immigrants, resulting in 18 arrests, authorities said Sunday.
Participants in the Minuteman Project spotted the migrants Saturday near Naco as the volunteers were surveying the border to familiarize themselves with area. When agents arrived, they apprehended 18 people, Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame said.
"You observe them, report them and get out of the way," said Mike McGarry, a spokesman for the project, which begins Monday and is to continue for a month.
The volunteers reported another illegal immigrant after he wandered onto the campus of a Bible college near the community of Palominas, where about 100 Minuteman participants were staying.
The man walked in and said he needed food and water. Volunteers helped him and notified federal agents, who picked him up, McGarry said.
The man was weary from traveling but did not need medical attention, Adame said.
"It's not uncommon to have aliens that have had enough," Adame said. "They'll walk up to someone's house and ask them to call us. They're waiting on the porch when we arrive."
Minuteman volunteers planned to start regular patrols Monday, fanning out across 23 miles of the San Pedro Valley to watch the border and report any illegal activity to federal agents. It's an exercise some law enforcement authorities and others fear could lead to vigilante violence.
McGarry said about 200 people would be in place for Monday's patrols, although human rights activists and some authorities have questioned whether the project will attract as many volunteers as organizers expect.
Law enforcement officials said the volunteers were keeping the peace, despite concerns they might become confrontational with immigrants. Many of the volunteers were recruited over the Internet and some plan to be armed.
"Everything seems to be going well," said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
The Arizona-Mexico border is considered the most vulnerable stretch of the 2,000-mile southern border. Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants caught by the Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border.
Sue and I would often arrest them, and holding them at gun point, wait for the border patrol to take them off of our hands.
It's still there.
Way to go MMP!!
Now if 80% of Americans can agree on the subject of our borders why is it that the likes of the ACLU still seem to be the ones making policy??
I hope the MMP has it's desired effect and those in DC make some much needed changes!
LoL... or 20 million..
[[What do you want to bet that the same people who rail against the "racist vigilante" Minutemen pointing out the illegals to the Border Patrol would have NO PROBLEM with a vigilante group calling the cops' attention to these same illegals working for the evil Wal Mart?]]
Or they would most certainly be crying after they lost their job to an illegal alien.
I also love it when a liberal either loses his job to an illegal alien who they have defended for years or when a liberal gets his ass beat by a gang of gangbangers who they have defended as victims of unfair society. In both cases, we usually gain another conservative to our ranks :)
I've read through several immigrant threads today and the taunts just aren't there anymore. The worst was calling the MMP "cowboys." (They're playing cowboys and Indians.)
I've not looked at threads over the past week or so until 1 April. Setting aside the "April Fools" jokes it seems that some people really did resign FR. A few of the names mentioned were to the best of my recollection some of the ones who screamed Racists! Bigots! the loudest. I guess they are gone. Way to go, Opus.
If they are not gone.. this is eerie. What are they up to?
Two of them have been active, but not at all effective.
They are so sadly outnumbered...it's telling.
Until you get items 1-7 completed, don't even bother trying to discuss item 11. The American people got screwed in the 1980's when "immigration reform" promised to close these holes, but never did. And now we face a national crisis because of that failure.
We won't be fooled again.
--Boot Hill
bttt
bttt
The group is going to slowly grow more and more.
The more press they get..the more volunteers they get. The more volunteers they get....the more people can watch the border. The more people that watch the border...the less illegal immigrants come through.
Way to GO!!!
that's 19 down...
bump
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