Posted on 06/15/2005 12:26:52 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
GOLIAD - A citizen-based border patrol group that originated in Arizona will train its first Texas affiliate this weekend in Goliad, local organizers said this week.
Chris Simcox, co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, will conduct the training on the organization's standard operational procedures, said Bill Parmley, a resident of Sarco in South Goliad County. A public meeting and media interviews with Simcox and border-area ranchers and property owners are planned for 7 p.m. Monday at Memorial Auditorium in Goliad.
Parmley is among south Goliad County residents who organized months ago to stop illegal immigration through their area. The group, whose next meeting is 7 p.m. Thursday in Sarco, has enlisted help from sheriffs in Goliad, Bee and Refugio counties as well as U.S. Border Patrol. Simultaneously, Parmley has been in contact with hundreds of other border-area ranchers to bring the Minuteman organization here.
"I've been in touch with the Minutemen for the last three, four months," Parmley said. "People think the Minutemen will interact or engage with illegal immigrants. That's totally wrong. Area sheriffs are supporting us. That's who we'll be working with."
Parmley and Kenneth Buelter, also of Sarco, have invited U.S. Border Patrol and sheriffs from Victoria, Goliad, Bee, Refugio and other counties to meet with them and Simcox about the organization and how it works. While here, Simcox also is expected to meet with ranchers from South Texas before traveling to Odessa, where 200 area ranchers also are organizing, Parmley and Buelter said.
Goliad County Sheriff Robert DeLaGarza said he is researching the Minuteman group and plans to attend Monday's meeting.
"I'm not real familiar with that group," DeLaGarza said. "I'm being told they're a group that does exactly what Sarco is doing. If that's the case, it will be great. The people there have done good work."
According to its Web site, the group is preparing for a month long patrol effort spanning the Mexican border across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Citizen patrols who observe any form of illegal activity will report it to law enforcement.
"Once this chapter is set up here - the first official chapter in the state of Texas - we will have citizens who will be watching for illegal immigration as well as other illegal activities going on. We will be reporting it to our local law enforcement," Buelter said.
Buelter already is fighting media reports about vigilantism and racism that follow the Minutemen. The terms are now being applied to Goliad County Citizens Alert, the organization formed at Sarco early this year.
"We are not in support of vigilantism in any way. There is no one in our organization who is taking the law into their own hands. That is not our purpose," Buelter said.
Buelter said other groups are forming and calling themselves minutemen, including a group in New Mexico. That's not what is coming to Texas, he said.
"We're trying to get it straight from the source because there are a lot of other organizations calling themselves minutemen that have nothing to do with the organization in Arizona," he said.
"Vigilante" was a term used by Democratic state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, an author of a resolution that urged Gov. Rick Perry to oppose Minuteman plans for Texas, according to a recent Associated Press story.
Eleven senators signed it, and Democratic state Sen. Rodney Ellis wrote Perry that Minutemen "are not welcome in Texas." Perry responded that he can't ban people from legal activity, the story said.
"He understands and appreciates the frustration that many Texans have with illegal immigration, and its impact on national security, but ultimately this is a federal issue," Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said in the story.
The Minuteman Project drew international attention in April when volunteers showed up in Arizona to prove the border could be secured simply by putting more personnel there. While they didn't apprehend immigrants, Simcox said the group alerted the Border Patrol to suspicious behavior and helped catch 335 immigrants.
Yet the Texas border differs from the Arizona border in key ways. Most of the Texas land is privately owned, so Minutemen would need landowners' permission to be there. The border also is overwhelmingly Hispanic and more urban, and Minutemen opponents wonder how the volunteers will distinguish illegal immigrants. Opponents also fear the movement is fomenting racial hatred.
But Buelter denies that race is at issue. "This is a problem with our borders. How soon we forget 9/11. We let those terrorists into our country legally. We don't know anything about the thousands who are coming here illegally."
He cited a quote used by another co-founder of the Minuteman, Jim Gilchrist: "It's not a question of race, it' a question of the law."
Robin M. Foster is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-275-6319 or cueroadv@vicad.com.
Texas Minutemen Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Yes, there are differences between the border in Texas and the border in Arizona. There are also similarities. Criminals sneak across in the dead of night, or during broad daylight, and American citizens are ready to put a stop to that.
My Momma taught me that if you have to sneak, you're wrong. And you know it. There should not need to be any discussion beyond that point.
I wish them well.
Maybe with enough of this activism (NOT vigilantiism)maybe our idiot politicians will fianlly wake up.
We need more activism on the right.
Day-um, that's funny.
Shades of Registered...
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
Damn, it's finally happening. This is great! Goliad is a bit of a drive from here, but I intend to try to make it.
Once again, private citizens step up and do what the Feds won't. Not can't- WON'T.
Good for the Minutemen!
Irony here?
From the Handbook of Texas Online, re: the Battle of Goliad, 1836, in which the Texans found themselves surrounded by Mexicans --
" . . . the massacre immeasurably garnered support for the cause against Mexico both within Texas and in the United States . . ."
Got the same advice from my Momma. Wonder what that says about those that don't get it.
Ping. . . for what may be The Reason.
The Minutemen? What a bunch of anti-capitalist, big government loving losers.
See post #7 lets make that our flag.
Why Swinney! If you're for this thing, this may the first I've agreed with you. Wonders never cease.
Awww....fill me in.
On second thought, I think I was thinking of someone else, to the extent that I was thinking. EARegardless, my random, baseless opinions should provide little cause for alarm.
Those are some pretty ominous caps. I'm just going to assume it's something very sneeky, dark, well-armed, and probably cooked up with the requisite amount of Shiner Bock.
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