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.
"....is there really isn't a border problem..."
Another quote that will come back and bite you in the a$$.
You're too funny.
"Um, because I know how to do math? It's not hard. If you know the formula, and your gross wages over the years, you too can figure it out."
Ohhhh....I see.
To help me better understand your position on the illegal border crossings problem kindly respond to the short survey below.
1. In your estimation, what percentage of the Border Patrol's figures is accurate?
2. In your estimation, what percentage of citizens concerned about illegal border crossings is not anti-immigrant?
3. What percentage of your answers to questions 1 and 2 is affected by any of the following conditions or maladies (Indigestion, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, gout, menopause, ingrown toenails, hair loss, dizziness, tooth decay, hormonal imbalances, or a condition/malady of your choice)?
Afterward adjust answers accordingly for more accurate estimates
Example: Border Patrol figures only 20% accurate
Tooth decay effect on estimate 50%
Adjusted amount: Border Patrol figures 70% accurate
right. they like to get rid of the riff raff with just enough maids etc to do the dirty work for crumbs a day. but if you are one of the Elite Spanish Bloods or care to spread that gringo wealth around to the Elite ... you're in! you gotta play the commie game!
I see you're very serious about this issue.
So it's ok for someone that IS legal to get back more than they paid and for everyone else, the government can just keep their money?
Feel free to provide the link. I have a subscription so I can read the archives.
Thanks for the welcome. I know this is a tough subject with a lot of different views. I've looked at all side of this issue and have come to my own conclusions. I'm a independent thinker and have my own point of view based on what I see, hear and read. Interesting debate.
It's easy enough to find on your own. Do your own research. If you have the subscription it'll take no time at all.
Hmm - Bush and the RINOs are liars when they say we cant stop illegals from crossing the border. This proves it. Wake up Freepers Bush could care less about you - if he really wants to stop illegal immigration all he has to do is 1)penalize employers who hire 2)take away all benefits and 3)put up a wall. Instead GW who has never had to face what middle America faces - poor schools, crime, drugs, criminals, failing hospitals, disease, etc... - is thinking that you will buy the lie that we cant stop illegals and that we wont do the work that they perform -
Minuteman rock!!!!!
Well if you have enough faith in the stats you cite, certainly you would be willing to provide the reference. Otherwise, I would simply presume that stat you cited includes everyone that crosses the border, from vacationers,truckers, business people, etc. The number means nothing without context.
Why can't the Minutemen Detail continue on past the month long "experiment"? If they had signups for say 2-week periods and have people rotate in and out, why couldn't this be an ongoing thing? I really was upset about the comment "Mexican police are discouraging Mexicans from crossing"...What DO they DO normally? What purpose have they got if NOT to enforce the LAW!
I believe this is an economic issue for Mexican nationals. Their government has not done enough to help it's own people. That being said, illegal immigration should not be condoned. Our legal immigration policy is quite generous (approximatley one million per year). That's not to say the legal process probably has room for improvement.
Depends on your definition of "interesting". ;-)
You have the subscription to Time. Just look it up. Not too difficult.
"What Minuteman volunteers have succeeded in doing is setting off false alarms by tripping ground sensors on the border, he said."
"They're getting closer," he says. "They could just be reporters." They are.
Maybe the reporters are more to blame than the Minuteman volunteers for the false tripping of alarms.
I agree with your frustration. I don't know the answer to that one!
Careful. CBG may well consider that hate speech and go off on a completely unrelated rant. ;-)
Go away flame-bait.
>>You have the subscription to Time. Just look it up. Not too difficult.<<
Good for you! Welcome aboard.
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