Posted on 04/01/2006 3:56:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
THREE POINTS, Ariz. — Minuteman volunteers concerned about the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue.
A year after their first watch-and-report operation along the border in southeastern Arizona, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps embarked on a much larger effort in the busy migrant-smuggling corridor.
"I'm concerned about what's not being done by the government — hasn't been done, apparently," said J. Glenn Sorensen, a retired school administrator now living in Flagstaff.
Sorensen, who was not involved with the Minutemen last year, said he thinks the organization has accomplished part of its intended purpose already, "to draw national attention to an insecure border. I don't think anybody wants to close the border — I certainly don't. Basically, I think they need to be secure."
No one in the group had any illusions about their campaign's effectiveness, since it targets a relatively short section of the border for just a month. However, it comes at a time when Congress is debating proposals seeking to reform immigration laws, which have drawn supporters of legitimizing illegal immigrants to demonstrations in cities across the country.
"This is like sticking a finger in the dike," said Ken Raymond, a retired electrical engineer and airplane mechanic from Tucson.
At a rally kicking off the effort at a remote southern Arizona ranch Saturday afternoon, politicians and activists opposing illegal immigration gave fiery speeches calling for more border control.
At least 200 mostly older men and women heard more than a half-dozen speakers praise their efforts and call the Minutemen heroes.
Don Goldwater, a Republican candidate for Arizona governor, said he had a message for President Bush.
"Build us that wall now," Goldwater said, referring to a measure that would add 700 miles of fences along the border. He promised that if elected, he would put illegal immigrants in a tent city on the border and use their labor to build the wall. Goldwater is a nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.
Each month, thousands of illegal immigrants cross into Arizona. So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, agents have caught more than 48,000 in the area staked out this weekend, up 53 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Chris Simcox, the Minuteman group's national leader, said four watering stations placed by the group Humane Borders to keep migrants from dying in the desert will be among the sites under surveillance. Last year, more than 400 people died trying to cross the desert, many from dehydration or heat exposure, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
"We watch them all the time," Simcox said of the water stations. "It's a great place to report illegal activities."
President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox support a so-called guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants already holding jobs in the U.S. to stay.
The Minutemen Saturday arriving south of Tucson plan to patrol private ranch property about 30 miles north of the border.
The group says it plans similar exercises along the border in California, New Mexico and Texas, and along the Canadian border in Washington, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York state.
Along with their binoculars, cell phones and radios, a number wore sidearms, including state Rep. Russell Pearce, a Republican and a leading voice in the Arizona Legislature calling for a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Those planning to patrol were under strict orders to call the Border Patrol and to avoid confronting intruders or drawing their weapons, said Simcox and Stacey O'Connell, in charge of the Arizona chapter.
Although last year's patrols were nonviolent and disciplined, there are still concerns about having armed groups in a busy trafficking area, Gus Soto, a Border Patrol spokesman, said last week.
Minuteman leaders have said that all the group's members have been screened to weed out members of racist organizations.
Still, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union-Arizona say they're concerned over "the potential for taking actions and ... attempting to enforce immigration laws," executive director Alessandra Soler Meetze said.
Bill Ames of Dallas, Texas and other minuteman volunteers listen to the national anthem during a Minuteman Project rally, Saturday, April 1, 2006, near Three Points, Ariz. Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh)
Carol Withers, right, sits beside her husband Ross Withers from Camp Verde, Ariz., and claps during a Minuteman Project rally near Three Points, Ariz., Saturday, April 1, 2006. Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue. A year after their first watch-and-report operation along the border in southeastern Arizona, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps embarked on a much larger effort in the busy migrant-smuggling corridor. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh)
Clyde Phillips claps during a Minuteman Project rally Saturday, April 1, 2006, near Three Points, Ariz. Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh)
What great pictures of some fantastic people!!
Thank you.
ping
"...a half-dozen speakers praise their efforts and call the Minutemen heroes..."
And so they are!
Imigration is a privilage!! If you think you have a right go F**** your self. We have to stop this illegal practice. Send them home to fix their own damn country. Why do we have to be the ones to always help the needy when their own country won't lift a finger to help their own. MEXICANS GO THE F*** HOME. I personally don't need you to pick ONE FRIGGEN strawberry.
Any of them running for congress this year? Gilchrest got a good 25% of the vote when he ran in that special election in the fall, they should make a go for it, run in the Republican primaries, or as independents. Might scare the GOP into doing what's right.
"President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox support a so-called guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants already holding jobs in the U.S. to stay".
You are either part of the solution to the alien invasion or you are part of the problem.
Which is President Bush?
PING for some real Patriots of America!
Time for the real conservatives on FR,
be it Republicans, Independents or Democrats
(like Zell Miller and John O'Neill) to band together
and oust the looney left and RINO's
I noticed the number of white-haired seniors in the mix of volunteers.
They probably feel like I do. 'We've been patient long enough. If the government won't do anything...we'll do it for them!'
Courageous men and women. True patriots.
If we can't be there, we should each send the Minutemen a check to help with supplies, rent, possible legal fees, etc.
Undocumented border patrolmen doing the job government refuses to do. Patriots all.
They're all GREAT pictures, with deep meaning behind them....but #3 is something else. This mess must be killing him...
I wonder how many tours of duty some of these "old farts" served ? :)
If this country falls, they will have served one time too many.
"so-called guest worker program"
Even the LSM is starting to pick up on the farce!
God Bless Our Minutemen, our Border Patrol agents, and our brave men in women in law enforcement who are helping turn the tide.
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