Posted on 04/03/2005 4:09:54 PM PDT by 11th_VA
PHOENIX (AP) - The first encounter with immigrants trying to illegally entering the country was peaceful for volunteers of the Minuteman Project -- a month-long effort by citizens from around the country who plan to patrol the Mexican border for illegal crossers and smugglers.
U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame said agents received a call about 1 p.m. Saturday about a group of suspected border crossers near Naco. When agents arrived, they apprehended 18 illegal crossers, he said.
Adame said the border patrol does not release the identities of citizen callers in order to protect the callers and encourage future reports.
Organizers of the Minuteman Project said the immigrants were spotted by their volunteers and a landowner.
Volunteers planned to start official patrols on 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.
A group of volunteers had started conducting border reconnaissance on Saturday to familiarize themselves with area. That's when they spotted the immigrants, organizers say.
"You observe them, report them, and get out of the way," said Mike McGarry, a spokesman for the project.
"That's the ethos of this thing," he said. "It's been pretty well drummed into people's mind and they have been respectful of that."
Another immigrant was reported to federal authorities by the group after he wandered into the Bible College in the Palominas area, where about 100 project volunteers were staying. McGarry said the man walked in and said that he was in serious need of food and water. According to McGarry, the volunteers helped the man and notified the federal agents, who picked him up.
Adame said the man was weary from traveling, but was not in need of medical attention.
"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."
Saturday marked the start of the Minute Project as participants, supporters and protesters marched in southern Arizona to draw attention to what they say is the government's failure to control the border.
Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, estimates that as many as 450 people came out for two rallies held Saturday at Border Patrol stations in Douglas and Naco.
Project organizer Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant from California, has said the people at Saturday's protest represented only a portion of those on hand for the operation. Many of the Minuteman volunteers were recruited over the Internet.
McGarry said about 200 people were expected to be in place at the border for Monday's patrols.
Human rights activists and some authorities have questioned whether the patrols will draw the hundreds that organizers have touted.
Despite concerns that volunteers -- many who planned to be armed -- would become confrontational with immigrants, Capas said they were keeping the peace.
"Everything seems to be going well," Capas said.
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.
The state has also been heavily targeted by immigration officials, who have been bolstering the Border Patrol presence here in recent months. On Wednesday, the Homeland Security Department announced that it is assigning 534 additional agents to help keep out potential terrorists and illegal immigrants.
I don't think they really want to be around if that happens...
Cochise County is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined in terms of land mass, although much less populous.
OTOH, our gun ownership per capita probably rivals most small Nations' Armed Forces.
God help 'em if they start something. Remember the Alamo?
" That's because anybody sneaking across that one likely is a doctor."
If it were only true. Under the guidelines of NAFTA the only physicians allowed to come to the USA are those that teach. The TN Visa does not allow for clinical practice physicians.
Somewhere around this mess I call my house, I have a newspaper from about 15 years ago about two OB/GYNs from Canada who immigrated to Greensboro. They came here because they weren't allowed to buy an Ultrasound machine for their practice. They were willing to buy it with their own money, but permission was denied because the government didn't want to pay for them to use it.
No doubt the MSM was disappointed in such a response.
And for every one that gets caught, it's estimated that 3 get through... you do the math.
I've just been thinking about the strategy of this. The illegal aliens might give up on the Arizona route altogether and start trying to enter other states instead. When that activity increases in other states, more people living on the border will get more determined to help the Minutemen.
As it gets more difficult to cross, the border patrol will have an easier job. Then it gets even easier to catch what numbers remain.
That would be a slow process, however. I hope that in 2008 we will have a mandate. FReegards....
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