Minutemen Are People, Too (Arizona rednecks win a round against the ACLU.)

OpinionJournal.com (Wall Street Journal) ^ | 05/19/2005 | Leo W. Banks

[jocon307]

Anybody who appreciates a good yuck was sad to see the Minutemen pack up their pickups and go home. After all, it wasn't every day that we got to enjoy the spectacle of sunscreen-lathered ACLU observers chasing volunteer border-watchers through the desert. But in the media bonfire accompanying Arizona's Redneck Revolt, we saw the cultural divide separating media elites from ordinary people--those with BlackBerries and $150 hairdos versus folks with tobacco bulges in their cheeks.

-snip-

[The] border residents are routinely snickered at and called racist vigilantes. But most are decent folks caught up in the daily invasion of illegals who tramp across their land. Ranchers in hard-hit areas spend the first hours of every day repairing damage done the night before. They find fences knocked down and water spigots left on, draining thousands of precious gallons. And then there's the trash: pill bottles, syringes, used needles, and pile after pile of human feces.

-snip-

How bad is it? In the Tucson Sector alone in January 2005, the Border Patrol arrested 35,704 people, seized 34,864 pounds of marijuana, and impounded 557 smuggling vehicles. In one month.

-snip-

How long do you suppose such outrages would go on in Fairfield, Conn.? Or Greenwich? It'd be a day and a half before some kumbaya-liberal flipped sides and founded the Merritt Parkway Minutemen. Or the BlackBerry Brigade.

The best part of this story is that while the elite media's agenda on the Minutemen played well on the coasts, Arizonans weren't buying it. A poll found that 57% of the state's residents supported the border-watch project...

-snip-

But as the Minutemen plan to expand operations to five more states--and a new citizen group, the Yuma Patriots, begins patrolling--that 57% heartens me. It looks to me like the rednecks won.

[jocon307]

Mr. Banks is a writer in Tucson.

I can barely believe that this was published by the Wall Street Journal.

[Calpernia]

>>>>After all, it wasn't every day that we got to enjoy the spectacle of sunscreen-lathered ACLU observers chasing volunteer border-watchers through the desert. But in the media bonfire accompanying Arizona's Redneck Revolt, we saw the cultural divide separating media elites from ordinary people--those with BlackBerries and $150 hairdos versus folks with tobacco bulges in their cheeks.<<<<

The visual of this is just priceless!

[CarrotAndStick]

Look at an 'analogous' situation here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1406194/posts

Thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims flee India

[theDentist]

I can barely believe that this was published by the Wall Street Journal.

Why?

[Publius6961]

I can barely believe that this was published by the Wall Street Journal.

Because...?

You think that a man sitting in the middle of a house on fire can get away with saying "it's getting warm in here" indefinitely?

[NRA1995]

If we moved the US Capitol to the Arizona border or the California border, the illegals problem would be cleared up in a heartbeat.

[poobear]

"How long do you suppose such outrages would go on in Fairfield, Conn.? Or Greenwich? It'd be a day and a half before some kumbaya-liberal flipped sides and founded the Merritt Parkway Minutemen. Or the BlackBerry Brigade."

Great article and great point!

[jocon307]

"Why?"

"Because...?"

Because the WSJ has been, editorially, one of the staunchest defenders of open borders (or nearly open) on the right. After a lot of folks, like myself, woke up to the error of that line of thought on or about 9/11/01 they re-doubled their defense of immigration galore.

Now, this article represent's Mr. Bank's views, of course, not the paper's, but still I'm surprised to see it.

[theDentist]

While the WSJ does (wrongly) defend an open border policy, they haven't been shy about allowing opposing viewpoints reside on their pages (as opposed to say NYT or Boston Globe).

[Travis McGee]

"But most are decent folks caught up in the daily invasion of illegals who tramp across their land. "

---

U.S. Constitution Article 4 Section 4:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,

and shall protect each of them against Invasion;"

---

Invasion: \In*va"sion\, n. [L. invasio: cf. F. invasion. See Invade.] [1913 Webster]

1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.

[Travis McGee]

ping

[Truth29]

I am guessing that this was posted in the on line Journal only and not in the print editions. Print edition articles usually reference a section and page number. Can anyone confirm?

[.cnI redruM]

I love it when 'those people' play a successful game of "I'm just a dumb hick" against the ACLU. Having lived and worked in the South, I've learned to be ever vigilant any time someone smiles and says "I'm just a country boy."

[.cnI redruM]

The BorderCons successfully rammed through a good portion of the reconstruction money for part of our border fence on the last supplemental bill for the WOT. I'd say what they lack in PR ability, they make up for in cleverness....

I think the House is seriously beginning to find ways to thwart the whole open borders lobby. I'd be surprised if the House version of Kennedy_McPain even made it to the floor.

[kittymyrib]

Begging everyone's pardon for slightly changing the subject, the Alberto Gonzales poster with his weasel words, prompts me to ask what that Gonzales quote that Harry Reid threw up to Frist yesterday was all about. He said that Gonzales said that Patricia Owen, our good conservative Texas Supreme Court justice, was an "unconscionable" activist. Dingy Harry even pulled out a dictionary and read the definition of "unconscionable" for the Rats. I didn't know much about Gonzales, who has disappeared since taking the AG's job it seems, and his statement that is now being used to fight a conservative judge doesn't increase my respect for him. I'd like to know more about this quote.

[television is just wrong]

Actually, illegal empanada stands, and illegal aliens crowd in the landscape in DC.

[television is just wrong]

uh, No, Mr. Gonzalez, you are not doing your job.

[Travis McGee]

"The BorderCons successfully rammed through a good portion of the reconstruction money for part of our border fence

That "good portion" was for THREE MILES of the 2,000 mile border, here in San Diego.

The fence in San Diego is made of military surplus corrogated steel runway matting, 8' high. The horizontal corrugations form toe-holds for easier climbing. This fence actually aids the smugglers, by shielding the mass movements of illegal border crossers from the eyes of the Border Patrol. Spotters with cell phones on high points in Mexico watch until the Border Patrol SUV drives over a distant hill out of sight, then they make the call to the coyotes. The coyotes then know they will have an hour or more before the BP returns to that sector, and the illegals jump over, and run into the USA. They only have to make it a 100 yards or so into gullies and thick brush, and they are home free.

That is where the California Minutemen will be able to help, by keeping eyes on the border and the hinterland while the BPs are out of sight over the hill.

[television is just wrong]

the state of massachusetts needs to really look at their two senators and do some soul searching. Com'on John F'n Kerry, and Teddy 'drown'em' Kennedy??

[HiJinx]

Leo Banks is a consummate writer; I have long enjoyed his work for Arizona Highways. The trash he mentions, he has seen with his own eyes. Leo has probably walked over more Arizona ground than any other person living here now, and he loves this state with a rare passion. The current state of our state has to breaking his heart.

I'd expect for us to see more from him on this issue.