Posted on 02/21/2005 2:42:11 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
They've cut down her fences, stolen her pickup and even broken into her home — once rampaging into the bedroom and nearly strangling her, sparing her life only after she grabbed a gun.
Not so lucky were several loyal dogs that were killed by the determined invaders.
Local authorities offered little help, and federal officers could do only so much with limited resources.
Left to fend for herself, South Texas rancher Kerry Morales decided to take direct action to stop undocumented immigrants who move daily through her 80 acres outside Hebbronville, about 54 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Maybe 20 years ago the illegals were innocent, hard-working people," she said. "Not any more. Now they're extremely dangerous. They mean violence."
In April, Morales plans to join approximately 1,000 other volunteers from across the United States expected to descend on a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border and become temporary, de facto border guards.
The effort already is drawing critics — including the Border Patrol — but organizers are adamant the monthlong gathering will be a peaceful show of force, not a vigilante operation.
Dubbed the Minuteman Project after the 1770s-era Massachusetts militiamen on call at a moment's notice, it is the brainchild of Jim Gilchrist, a retired California accountant and former Marine who fought in Vietnam.
Gilchrist tapped an Arizona activist, who for two years has been leading small groups of civilians to patrol the border, to help him organize the April mission. That state was picked because for several years it has led the country in undocumented migrant traffic.
South Texas could be next — possibly this summer, depending on how the first experiment goes.
"It's going to be a gigantic neighborhood watch," said Gilchrist, 56.
He said contact with migrants will be forbidden and any "wacko" who breaks ranks will be kicked out and reported to local authorities.
Since Arizona allows it, participants with handgun permits can carry their weapons. Still, they're encouraged to leave them at home because they won't need them, Gilchrist said. And larger firearms, including rifles — and soldier-like attire such as camouflage fatigues — won't be allowed.
"There's a place for Rambos in real wars," he said. "This is not a real war."
Emphasis on the nonviolent, law-abiding aspect of the Minuteman Project is key because organizers don't want to be seen as vigilantes. Other civilian border patrol efforts have gained a reputation as outlaw associations.
Numerous immigrant advocates and politicians have labeled the Minuteman Project's co-organizer, the Arizona-based Civil Homeland Defense, as a vigilante organization.
A similar description has been given to Ranch Rescue, a now-disbanded group formed in Texas that upon request dispatched military-clad, armed volunteers to assist border-area ranchers.
On one such mission in South Texas two years ago, a confrontation between Ranch Rescue members and undocumented migrants ended in court — the migrants claimed to have been beaten.
A jury did not concur but did find one group member guilty of illegally carrying a gun.
The Minuteman Project effort couldn't be more different in strategy and approach, Gilchrist said.
Groups of four to eight volunteers will be assigned to safe areas near the border to spot migrants using high-tech equipment such as night-vision binoculars.
Once crossers are identified, spotters will use cell phones and walkie-talkies to contact a "command center," which will relay sightings to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Participants will not confront migrants, letting them pass if encountered directly, Gilchrist said.
The strong military flavor in his talk is no coincidence. Not only is he a former Marine, his top ground organizers are all military veterans. About 60 in all, they will be led by a former Army sergeant major who led logistics planning during Gulf War I, Gilchrist said.
The project's apparently serious and structured approach has persuaded 29 Texans so far to sign up.
Just as he volunteered for two tours in Vietnam three decades ago, Bob Sabia of San Antonio felt a renewed call upon hearing of the Minuteman Project on a national conservative radio talk show.
Now retired, the 62-year-old former Marine pilot still takes to the air in his Cessna 150, which he plans to fly to Arizona to help foil illegal border crossings.
"Congress is not doing its job of protecting the nation's borders," Sabia said. "And there's enough of us vets around who aren't going to take this sitting down."
But it's not just about being patriotic. Many volunteers deem the ever-growing immigrant influx as eroding U.S. culture, arguing that most migrants don't learn English and show no interest in assimilating into the American mainstream.
For Charlie Preston of Austin, it's about providing the best future for his 5-year-old daughter.
If it takes shelling out his own money to be part of a national cry for politicians to recognize the negative socioeconomic effects of an open border, that's what Preston is ready to do.
"A nation has to have a unified culture," said Preston, 31, who owns a Web marketing business. "If that culture begins to break down, the entire country breaks down."
Immigrant advocates have heard such arguments before. And while they've also become used to seeing small groups of civilian border patrols, a massive incursion of anti-immigrant activists could prove disastrous, they warn.
Despite Gilchrist's repeated claims of peaceful mobilization, Isabel García doesn't buy a word of it.
The veiled language hides a hate-mongering, xenophobic intention to add to the boiling border political climate, said García, co-director of the Human Rights Coalition in Tucson, Ariz.
Minuteman Project participants should be promptly arrested and charged if they confront migrants, said García, noting her group plans to stage counterdemonstrations and may call on their own volunteers to directly monitor project activities.
Such advocates aren't the only ones against the idea. The U.S. Border Patrol also prefers that civilians stay home.
Though many patrol agents long have claimed to be outnumbered and have pleaded for additional manpower and newer equipment, agency leaders say the dangerous task of watching the border should be left to trained officers.
Project volunteers may end up giving border officers more unsolicited work and stress than necessary, said José Garza, a Brownsville native and spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
Agents may have to respond to violent clashes between participants and drug traffickers. They may even have to break off from regular duties to assist people in distress — volunteers from out of state could easily get lost in the tricky, unforgiving desert, Garza said.
Gilchrist, noting that so far he has received about 40 negative e-mails in contrast to more than 4,000 messages of support, dismissed all criticism as unfounded and exaggerated.
He's counting on most volunteers being like Dan Lehnhoff, a fellow Vietnam veteran who lost a leg in 1970 while serving with the Navy.
Lehnhoff won't be able to move around too much with only one leg, but he said he'll take any assignment organizers give him.
"I can't be involved in anything shady. Military people can't be doing anything illegal, or we risk losing our pension," said Lehnhoff, 55, of Whitney, northwest of Waco, who plans to drive his RV to the Arizona border for three weeks in April.
"The main thing is to be law-abiding," he said. "You can't have a bunch of vigilantes down there taking the law into their own hands."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- hrozemberg@express-news.net
Yes.
Surely you jest.
Have you any inkling of the cost of illegal invaders overwhelming social services and law enforcement across the country? Or just who's crossed over and set up shop since 9/11? Or the word that there IS no "border enforcement" -- 'Homeland Security', my @ss.
Btw, have you checked out the tab for the Iraq War lately?
Cost has NEVER been a factor in enforcing the border. Political expediency and pandering to whomever is -- especially from the Bush Administraion.
"Vigilantes"? Americans?? Have some illegal invaders been clipped already?
You WOULD refer to American patriots trying to defend America as "vigilantes."
Were you peering out from from the brush along the road during Paul Revere's run, you'd have made sure he'd never have completed his mission.
"And, once again, Arizona law requires that you witness a felony in progress, except for a few narrow misdemeanor exceptions which do not apply here."
Arizona law actually requires arresting agents to witness felonies in progress? Geez, I guess it's really hard to bring a murder, rape or robbery to trial then, huh? In other states, only misdemeanors have to be committed in the presence of the arresting person. Arrests can be made for a felony based on probably cause only.
Look, if the feds won't or can't enforce exisiting law, states can and should give greater authority to agents (public safety or private bounty hunters) to apprehend offenders and turn them over to the INS. As you said,
"the important thing to note here is that no such authorization has been made"...exactly why demands should be made at the state capitol instead of the border. It may come down to the feds giving states the money to tackle this problem. Without funding, state legislatures aren't likely to get agressive about enforcement, either.
I don't see what can be accomplished by the 20mi watch, but I don't think the answer is in Washington, either. I think the solution lies with the states, and I think ultimately the politicians in DC may be happy to let them do the job. If hiring illegals is profitable, then catching them might be, too. The idea of hiring private contractors (bounty hunters) to police our borders may seem outrageous, but 30 years ago people laughed at private prisons, too.
Via con dios.
You've hit upon the disaster that's sure to follow. Someone in this debacle is going to be armed, and someone is going to get killed. After that happens, sit back and not only watch all hell break loose, but watch the Minuteman Project unravel at the seams.
It's my understanding that bounty hunters in the USA are solely limited to running down bond jumpers. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd love to see it.
Would you believe a group of Angels is not patroling in Deep Ellum, an artsy but crime ridden areas of Dallas. Russ Martin, a big local talk radio jokes about them all the time. They don't carry weapons, they carry radios. Russ keeps saying this is Texas, and we carry guns in this state. The pawn shops are going to fill up with Guardian Angel radios.
Being in the US illegally is not a felony and entering the US illegally is not a felony, unless you were previously deported.
In Arizona, as long as the illegal is on public property, no citizen can arrest him.
What if a citizen witnesses a border-crossing? Or any other misdemeanor? Can a citizen effect a lawful arrest in AZ? I thought the answer was 'yes.'
Nowhere did I say that bounty hunters have the authority to pick up illegals. I do think if we're serious about having borders we should consider enlisting them in the effort. States can give them the authority to apprehend and they'd do an excellent job, since many of them come from the ranks of police or military. With the proper authority and some financial incentive the private sector could move a lot faster and more efficiently on this issue than any government agency.
No, so if you witness a person walk across the border or a car drive across the border, what is the grounds for a citizens arrest?
I was just asking if a misdemeanor offender can be subject to a citizen's arrest in Arizona if his misdemeanor offense is directly witnessed by the arresting citizen. I assume that if someone is seen ambulating the border in the middle of nowhere that it is being done without governmental permission.
You're right, the first time it's a misdemeanor, which is part of the problem (that could and should have been fixed in the Patriot Act). But it's still subject to arrest and immediate confinement as well as detention without bond. NOT subject to CITIZENS arrest, maybe, but citizen patrols are not going to solve this problem...unless and until the states give them the authority to act.
Sadly, it sounds like Arizona lawmakers value illegals more than they do US citizens. Is there no way to get your state legs attention, no one to shame them into action? Where's McCain when you need him? Oh, that's right...he's with Hillary! And she WILL make illegals her banner issue if something's not done before '08.
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