I very much approve of the Minuteman Project, but I couldn't resist.
Posted on 04/06/2005 12:14:18 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
ON THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER - With the Lone Star flag flying and a pistol and knife on his belt, a Houstonian, who gave his name as Bill Breaux, stood on top of his pickup and stared through binoculars at the mountainous Arizona-Mexico border.
He was looking for migrants trying to sneak into the United States. But on this sunny day, there was not much action.
"I think I saw some little guy's head earlier, but then he ducked into the bushes," said Breaux, 48, a resident of Houston's north side, who declined to say where he works.
Breaux was proudly manning Base 4 of a monthlong volunteer border patrol they call the Minutemen Project.
200 volunteers at posts In the first few days of the patrols, which started Sunday, about 200 volunteers from across the United States have taken up positions along a 23-mile stretch of border around the Arizona towns of Naco and Douglas.
Project organizer Chris Simcox and others said they plan to organize similar border-watch projects in Texas and other states.
During eight-hour shifts, the volunteers stared at the desert, ate sandwiches and told swarms of journalists why they believe undocumented immigrants need to be kept out of the United States. When someone saw anything suspicious, he called the Border Patrol.
"This is what homeland security should look like from the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of the Pacific Ocean," said Simcox, a newspaper owner from the nearby town of Tombstone, who was driving around inspecting the bases.
"I have been in contact with some Texans who are very interested in doing a Minuteman project there," he said. He did not identify the people or specify any dates for such a project.
Simcox said he is organizing a national picketing project for June in which volunteers will demonstrate against selected businesses that employ illegal immigrants.
"We are going to name and shame the guilty employers," Simcox said.
He said the volunteers had assisted the Border Patrol in the detentions of more than 100 undocumented migrants on Saturday evening.
However, Border Patrol spokesman Jose Maheda could not confirm these figures, saying only that the agency had received no more calls from citizens than any other night.
Triggering false alarms Maheda said the volunteers had stumbled into several Border Patrol sensors designed to locate intruders, causing the government agents to spend hours checking out false alarms.
Sunday, the first full day of citizens' patrols, the volunteers did not sight any border crossers in U.S. territory, a sign that Simcox claimed as a victory.
"No illegals crossing. Nothing. We win," he said.
Patrols by armed volunteers, who have voiced criticism of illegal immigrants and U.S. border security, have raised concerns that migrants might encounter violence.
On the Mexican side of the border, agents in orange jumpsuits from the government migrant aid agency were driving around warning people where the volunteers were stationed. Many of the migrants were likely going to other sections of the border, said Bertha de la Rosa, director of Grupo Beta in the border town of Aguaprieta.
"It is our duty to alert our citizens to the danger of armed vigilantes here," de la Rosa said through the spiked fence, as a group of volunteers on the U.S. side posed with their pistols for photographers.
Many of the volunteers were carrying pistols, taking advantage of Arizona laws that allow people to openly carry firearms, even without a license. Some of the border watchers also wore bulletproof vests and camouflaged clothing.
Media attention Simcox said the real success of the project was the media attention it had won. Hundreds of radio, television and newspaper reporters from as far away as Germany descended on the south Arizona desert.
"This is a political protest," he said. "We are sending our public servants a message to remind them that they work for us, and we want national security."
Immigration officials believe that many of the 10 million undocumented migrants in the United States came over the Arizona-Mexico border. Last year, the Border Patrol detained 490,000 people here, nearly half of the 1.1 million total caught along the entire border and returned to Mexico.
Simcox and his co-organizer, Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant from Aliso Viejo, Calif., said the project is strictly about law and order and they have nothing against legal immigration.
However, some of the volunteers who manned the watch posts said they came to the border because they are concerned about the effect immigrants have on American society.
"There is a real problem with assimilation," said Breaux, the Houstonian. "Around Houston there are a lot of people who won't carry American or Texas flags on their car. Instead they carry a flag from El Salvador or Mexico."
Volunteer Chad Robinson, 50, of Phoenix, said he is worried about diseases that he says immigrants bring.
Effort has critics Ray Ybarra, a member the American Civil Liberties Union, which had its own volunteers observing the border watchers, said the real agenda of the Minuteman Project is to fight the influence of nonwhite cultures on American society.
"They are scared of the Latino influence on the American Southwest," he said. "But American culture is always changing."
Minutemen volunteer Ron Mills, 35, a schoolteacher from Phoenix, said he has nothing against Latinos and has a Mexico-born wife. He said he came to the border to protest illegal immigrants jumping the queue for work visas.
Mills said that his wife's parents were upset by his participation in the project.
"They are not happy with me," he said. "But I tell them if immigration was all legal, it would be a lot less dangerous. No one dies coming into the United States at an airport."
Since you came up with a 6 year old article from CNN, I think it's safe to say that your claim that South Texas is aflame with violent immigrant crime, is at best overblown. At worst an intentional endeavor to decieve. In either event, just not true. Incidents of violence are isloated.
No worries. A simple mistake. I on the other hand, actually actually put my life and limb in jeapordy by repeatedly saying "Bandito" around a bunch of Bandidos. They're a worthless criminal bunch, but I'll give them credit, they're as bad assed as they come and their reputation is warranted.
http://www.window.state.tx.us/border/ch10/ch10.html
"For most Texans, the murder and mayhem surrounding illegal drug smuggling in Mexico may seem distant. The reality, however, is that drug-related violence in Mexico is spilling over the Texas border. Ranchers in Maverick County, 150 miles southwest of San Antonio, report that armed traffickers dressed in black or wearing camouflage clothing pass through their properties after crossing the Rio Grande. By one account, many ranchers have started carrying handcuffs in case of unwelcome encounters."
http://www.ranchrescue.com/texas.htm
"One of our hosts revealed that he has witnesssed drug smugglers in groups of ten or more, heavily laden with packs of illicit drugs and armed with AK-47 battle rifles, crossing his remote ranch property in broad daylight. His employees have been threatened with death, and two of them have been told that the drug smugglers are now offering bounties on their heads."
Drug smuggling is a different topic altogether. Drug smugglers have always been bad news, and neither race nor nationality have ever made a bit of difference. The Bandidos we spoke of a couple of messages ago routinely smuggle drugs into the country from South/Central America and Mexico, and they're uniformly gringo.
Confining a nation's border patrol to only one state is like having only one mousetrap in a beautiful mansion full of rooms.
Thats ok: "If they mean to have a war, let it begin HERE!"
Speak for YOURSELF. I'm a Texan, and they ARE wanted here!
I'm sick and tired of all the d*mn illegals that are taking over this state!
It doesn't matter whether people are coming across the border for drugs or for employment - if they're not US Citizens, and they're crossing illegally, they're illegal immigrants.
Some additional cites:
http://www.alpineavalanche.com/articles/2004/01/22/news/news01.txt
"Late Friday afternoon, Jan. 16, law enforcement officials responded to a call from ranch hands at the Paul Weyerts Ranch. They quickly converged in southeastern Brewster County to apprehend illegal Mexican nationals who allegedly stole guns and other items from the ranch after tying up the two ranch hands."
Ah, found a cite:
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/06/Worldandnation/Case_wins_Hawaii_race.shtml
"EDINBURG, Texas -- Six men, including two brothers, were shot to death early Sunday in a home invasion by four or five intruders who were probably looking for weapons and drugs, authorities said."
I can't find a follow-up article, but the one on CNN mentioned that the perps were thought to be illegals.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2002-05-30/feature2.html/1/index.html
'"If you're out of their path, it's not a big problem, but if you're in their corridor, it's everything you can imagine: damage, theft, vandalism and threats," says Manuel Benavides, who owns several ranches near Laredo. "Just to give you an idea, one year, we had to replace a stove in a ranch house four different times because it was damaged. We tried keeping a family out there, but the minute they'd leave the house, all their possessions would walk out. It's to the point where we can't keep a family out there for fear of intimidation. They show up in groups of 15 to 20. Are you going to leave your wife out there? I don't think so."'
Let me get this straight, there were Mexicans, armed with bows and arrows heading into your town, but luckily a rifle weilding rancher saved the day for everyone? Do you have a source I could use to verify this story? Not to be rude, but it strikes me as slightly outlandish.
No one is taking over this state. Texas has had a rich hispanic heritage since 1682. I don't forsee the day when you'll ever get a true groundswell of support against migrants in Texas. It's not going to happen.
My son-in-law, a police officer and I had this conversation a while back. It's just not true. The so called mule, whether it be the airline stewardess swallowing balloons of coke, or the Mexican migrant carrying drugs on his person, has never been anything more than a leaky faucet of drug traffic compared to a raging river of organized smuggling via truck and plane.
Truck, boat and plane.
Like hell they aren't wanted.
You had better wake up and smell the coffee, friend. There are PLENTY of Texans that feel the way I do. Including my wife, who is a 7th generation hispanic-texan. The schools in Willacy County, where I grew up are practically BANKRUPT over this issue. Why do you think Perry and our legislaturearte trying to raise our taxes? BECAUSE OUR STATE IS GOING BROKE, TRYING TO SUPPORT ILLEGALS! Ask Harris County Hospital District about why they are broke, and going more and more into debt.......
Same Answer.
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