Posted on 04/05/2005 8:34:29 AM PDT by Kokojmudd
By Michael Marizco ARIZONA DAILY STAR
NACO, SONORA – A Mexican military Humvee moves across the cow pasture; soldiers nod at federal agents in bright orange shirts roving by on ATVs. An hour later, a Sonora State Preventive Police truck moves through a sandy wash, the officers looking for migrants waiting to sneak across the border.
Across the barbed-wire border in Arizona early Monday, excitement grips Minuteman Project volunteers when they observe a group of six people moving north.
Dan Russell, 62, watches the group walking toward him. "They're getting closer," he says. "They could just be reporters." They are.
In the first few days of the Minuteman Project, volunteers have been slowing illegal immigration into the Naco area.They've accomplished that with the help of an unlikely ally: Mexico.
Eager to avoid confrontations between volunteers and its people, Mexico is sweeping the area south of the Minuteman Project clear of migrants.
Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo has placed 44 members of the new state police force across the border at La Morita, a cattle ranch that leads directly to the border south of Bisbee, said Diego Padilla the governor's Arizona representative.
The state police are working with Grupo Beta, Mexico's migrant protection force, which is plucking migrants out of the desert and depositing them in nearby Agua Prieta, where they are encouraged to wait before trying to cross.
"We are very crude with them; we tell them they may be shot, that there's rancheros out to stop them and hurt them," said Enrique Enriques Palafox, a Grupo Beta commander in Agua Prieta. The point is to terrify the migrants from the area so they won't cross illegally and encounter Minuteman volunteers, he said.
Sunday, the coordinated efforts of the military, Grupo Beta, and the new police force pulled 22 groups of migrants out of the ranch, Palafox said. By Monday, only a handful of people had to be told to go somewhere else.
Even as the Minuteman Project brought national attention to Cochise County's border woes, volunteers had few encounters with illegal entrants. But their presence has brought Mexican law enforcement to this part of the border, and that has had the effect of slowing illegal immigration.
Organizer James Gilchrist said Sunday that volunteers had reported 118 illegal entrants to the U.S. Border Patrol. There is no way to confirm that, because the agency's Tucson Sector says it doesn't keep track of Minuteman callers separately from normal calls from citizens about illegal border crossers.
Since Friday, when the protest started, there have been 78 citizen call-ins leading to the apprehension of 162 people, said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame.
What Minuteman volunteers have succeeded in doing is setting off false alarms by tripping ground sensors on the border, he said.
"We're having to work around them instead of concentrating on the actual border where we need to work," Adame said.
The number of illegal entrant apprehensions at the Naco station has dropped.
U.S. and Mexican officials say it's because of Mexico's efforts.
Minuteman organizers say otherwise. "We're having an impact," Gilchrist said Sunday.
● Contact reporter Michael Marizco at 573-4213 or at mmarizco@azstarnet.com.
That's true. Those with an agenda DO simply make up the numbers. Your words above are a fine example of that.
Until you can make a trip to East L.A. - STFU
I'm not encouraging them, or did you miss my open support of the MMP? I want them to either come here legally, or not at all.
Getting back at least what they pay, just like anyone else that has SS taxes withheld. What is the problem with that?
How about we just keep it and consider it their fine for being here illegally in the first place?
The Gov't of Mexico does not want to halt the illegals because American money is propping up the Mexican economy. I live in an agricultural town in Virginia. During the harvest season you see tons on migrant workers at money wiring places, sending that money home to Mexico.
"Ok. You stated earlier that there is no illegal immigration problem. What unbiased sources led you to this conclusion?"
I've never believed there was an immigration 'problem'. I think immigration is good for the US, for it's people, and for the businesses that employ workers. The fact that the only ones that seem to be setting off the sensors are the MMK's themselves, tells me that my conclusion is right.
It is perfectly clear to anyone with an objective mind that you and your supporters are on the warpath and continuing to make up scurrilous charges.
Illegal entry into the United States from all quarters is a serious problem. Gilchrist is happy with his dog and pony show and the fourth place stringers are happy to interview the same guy five times, even between snacks.
Calling someone with a differing opinion on the subject a traitor and foreign agent is just waaaay over the line. That would be the editorial you .
"If the BP wanted to keep their jobs, they'd understate the numbers to prove they are effective. Admitting to over 10 million getting by them is probably a serious "low balling" of the real numbers."
Look, no one is going to fire existing agents. What the BP union wants is MORE agents. MORE union members. MORE union dues. To do that it makes sense to create a storm of panic so some guy like Tancredo picks up the ball and tangles himself up in the union's spider web. They claim a problem that can only be solved by more agents. It's not that difficult to see their agenda.
And I suppose you're going to tell me they are all here legally? You asked where I see them, I told you. I notice you skipped past my mention of Dearborn, where most of the illegals are arabic, not hispanic, and some have been found to be involved in terrorist activities.
Also, why did the MI legislature pass a law banning the issuance of driver licenses to illegal immigrants? Was it because we DON'T have an illegal immigrant problem?
I don't know who called anyone a "traitor" or a "foreign agent". What are you talking about?
The last time I checked, the raison d'etre of the Minutemen is to protect our border, a.k.a. Homeland Security (yes, there is such a concept as "passive security"). I laud them for their efforts; I am not going to sit here at my keyboard and smugly denigrate their efforts with a few keystrokes.
You sound like a Liberal: if it's not going to work 100% the first attempt, then what's the use of trying at all?
sitting on fat rear and eating pork rinds all day = 375#
What I'm telling you is I can't tell from the look on their faces whether they're here legally or otherwise. I doubt you can either.
FYI, it would seem that CJ is still around.
Well, to use your own logic, the Michigan legislature did NOT pass such a law - it was killed before Engler left - so, yeah, I guess we don't have a problem with immigrants in the state of michigan.
Paranoia or rabble rousing or stupidity or just plain old fashioned baiting which you enjoy so much we don't get to read your breathless prose from the front lines.
A bunch of drama queens at the opera waiting for the fat lady to sing...
LOL MMK material, no?
"I've never believed there was an immigration 'problem'. I think immigration is good for the US, for it's people, and for the businesses that employ workers. The fact that the only ones that seem to be setting off the sensors are the MMK's themselves, tells me that my conclusion is right."
I doubt that many on this thread think immigration is bad for the US. This is about illegal immigration. You seem to want to paint those opposed to illegal immigration as anti-immigrant. What is your agenda?
The liberal news media reports the Mexican police are discouraging illegal immigrants from crossing the border where the MMP is positioned. Could that be the reason there are less illegal immigrants crossing the border here in AZ? Or are we to trust your conclusions simply because you list the liberal news media as your only source of information?
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