Posted on 07/09/2005 1:08:39 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The local Catholic archbishop and immigrant rights activists want to roll up the welcome mat before the Minutemen arrive to patrol for illegal immigrants in Houston.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an organization working to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, announced this week that it would send observers to watch day laborers in Houston beginning in October. Previous plans called for placing patrols only along the Mexican border.
But Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said the Minutemen would not be welcome in Houston.
"We stand against any attempts of outsiders to come into Houston to abuse and intimidate our immigrant communities," Fiorenza said in a statement issued Friday.
Separately, immigrant rights organizations announced that they would fight fire with fire by forming an organization to counteract the Minutemen.
"For every Minuteman patrolling, we will have at least 10 people patrolling them," said Maria Jimenez, a longtime local activist now associated with the Central American Resource Center, or CRECEN.
Jimenez and CRECEN leader Teodoro Aguiluz threatened to file a lawsuit if they observe the Minutemen doing anything illegal.
"We will respond to your organization with our organization," Jimenez said to the Minutemen. "We're not shy about it."
The advocates have called on the city to officially "disinvite" the Minutemen, but city leaders say that is unlikely. The mayor has said he does not see the need to pass an official resolution on the subject, and City Councilman Adrian Garcia said it would be hard to promote such a measure without mayoral support.
Jimenez estimated that there are 50 informal labor markets in Houston where day laborers gather looking for work from contractors. She said pro-immigrant groups would have at least 10 observers at each site.
One of the sites is just down the street from the CRECEN office, at the corner of Bellaire and Hillcroft, where dozens of workers gather every morning looking for work.
A city-funded day labor site is in the area, but the vast majority of workers prefer to seek work in the streets.
Some of those workers said Friday that they worry about the Minutemen.
"It's like racism," said one, who identified himself only as Juan. "All we want is a chance to survive."
Drawing some support
Business owners in the area say they might welcome some effort to get the day laborers off the streets.
"They mess up the surroundings with their trash, and they are very aggressive, which scares the customers," said Mohammed Uddin, an immigrant from Bangladesh who owns the Citgo station at Hillcroft and Bellaire. "It's bad for business."
Some of the immigrants say they worry about the potential for violence. At the CRECEN news conference, representatives noted that many Latin Americans have had bad experiences with vigilantes back home, and they drew direct parallels with the Minutemen.
"In the countries we come from, these groups outside the law are known as death squads" or paramilitaries, Aguiluz said.
But Bill Parmley, who heads the Minutemen in Texas, dismissed the comparison to Central American death squads as absurd.
"The only thing we're going to be carrying is a video camera," Parmley said. "That's the difference between their country and our country."
There were no reports of violence during the initial patrols the Minutemen held in Arizona last April. But some law officials have expressed a concern about the potential for vigilante violence.
The Minutemen in Texas originated out of a series of meetings this year in Goliad County, where landowners have become alarmed by the illegal immigrants being smuggled along the area's rural roads. Ranchers and other owners began holding meetings, and area law officers attended.
Bee County Sheriff Carlos Carrizales said he attended the first two meetings but stopped going after becoming concerned by the tone.
"During the second meeting, someone in the back shouted: 'Can't we just shoot 'em,' " in reference to illegal immigrants, Carrizales recalls. "Then others started to feed on that."
Checking backgrounds
Parmley concedes that the statement was made, but he disputes the sheriff's contention that others joined in. The Minuteman leader said those who want to join his organization must go through an extensive background check, which includes looking not only for criminal history but also for things like white-supremacist tendencies.
Parmley is the official Texas leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the group that was formed in Arizona. He said the campaign in Houston will be led by volunteers who live in Houston.
A separate group, which calls itself the Texas Minutemen, has been formed out of the Dallas area and plans to patrol near El Paso in October.
edward.hegstrom@chron.com
What is your answer to post #80 on this thread?
I have been accepted as a Minuteman.
Does that scare you Jug?
Matt, you and I are very open about who we are.
Jug has to hide its identity.
Liars hide.
Criminals hide.
I have been asked why I am so open, what if someone wanted to come after me.
I answered, "Let them, I would enjoy the distraction from my normal day."
So of course the Quislings have to lie.
"While I am saying this half serious and half joking, I think we are practicing la reconquista in California."
~ Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General, Feb 2002.
"I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important - a very important - part of this."
~ Ernesto Zedillo, Former President of Mexico, speaking in Chicago, July 23, 1997.
"Mexico extends beyond its borders."
~ Vicente Fox, Current President of Mexico, speaking to a gathering in Milwaukee in July of 2001
"California is going to be a Hispanic State and anyone who doesn't like it should leave. They should go back to Europe."
~ Mario Obledo, President of the Californian Coalition of Hispanic Organisations, June 1998
"Our devil has pale skin and blue eyes..." "To the gringos in the audience, I have one final message to convey, 'Up yours, baby. You've had it, from now on.' "
~ Jose Angel Gutierrez, professor, University of Texas.
"We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population... I love it. They are sh!tting in their pants with fear. I love it.... We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him."
~ Jose Angel Gutierrez, professor, University of Texas.
"Remember 187 (proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non citizens) was the last gasp of white America in California."
~ Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party in front of 400 cheering Latinos at U.C. Riverside on January 14, 1995.
"We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos... non-Latinos aren't watching, they aren't raising questions"
~ Fernando Guerra, professor, Loyola Marymount
"Go back to Boston! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die. .. Through love of having children, we are going to take over."
~ Augustin Cebeda, of the 'Brown Berets', a militant Aztlan group at a violent rally in Los Angeles on July 4, 2000.
"Fair housing agencies report a surge in discrimination by immigrant landlords from many nations who refuse to rent outside their ethnic group."
~ Reported in Los Angeles Times, Nov. 21 2001.
"In an extraordinary political move, President Vicente Fox has announced the formation of a cabinet level agency to govern, protect and provide services to over 20 million Mexicans now living in Aztlan, a territory encompassing most of the southwest part of the USA. President Fox declared yesterday that he will personally lead the new agency he named "Consejo Nacional para las Comunidades Mexicanas en el Exterior" (National Council for Mexican Communities Abroad). The "Council" will consist of the president, most of the cabinet secretaries and a, as of yet unnamed, representative from Aztlan. This is a bold move that essentially extends the arm of the Mexican government into the territories it previously lost during the Mexican-American War of 1848."
~ Reported in "La Voz de Aztlan", August 7, 2002.
If you know that, why on earth do you continue? addicted?
Thanks for setting me straight. Obviously I had gotten old numbers - before mention of an amnesty proposal by the President.
I'm going to classify this one with the "useful" definition...
After doing some catching up on my reading this morning, I have decided that that reason so many "government officials" and their pundits have a problem with the Minuteman Project, is opbviously they do not wish to be "burdened" with this issue...
"Harmony" being a word used by Houstons own police "chief" and that the Minutemen are going to upset that harmony...
Ohhhh, the humanity...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Took a nap for a few seconds...But I'm back on the job...
I compare the efforts so far by the Project to being more of a exersize in "triage" (sorry for the french term)...
The efforts in Arizona earlier this year, proved how effective we we're in treating a blunt force trama wound...
What happens in the cities and other areas this time, is more of a way in how we deal with a disease...By innoculating the area, we slowly teach the body how to deal with an infection...
The bacteria will fight back against the drugs used to treat the infection (thats what we see now), and ironically, we haven't even started yet...
I dunno...I'm all for it, and plan to find a way to help out and participate...
My wife, who is Mexican born, and is a U.S. Citizen now (never once did she or any of her vast family ever cross the border illegally) may participate as well...
If there ever was a lesson to be learned, and she could teach it...And all the "CJ's" in the world don't even come close to having any credentials or purpose, in telling anyone about how right or wrong the Minuteman Project is to this country...
Interesting definitions, Doctor Steve!
It was Travis who played the race card with his treasured Azatlan graphic.
To give them the benefit of the doubt, you can say that they just aren't mentally astute enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. They just aren't capable of understanding that we don't necessarily have problems with Hispanics, as long as they are legally here.
OTOH, if they can differentiate, then they're just being liberal. One prime example is Juan Williams, one of FoxNews' talking heads.
Those numbers have been steady for almost 2 decades. They have nothing to do with Bush's amnesty.
"We stand against any attempts of outsiders to come into Houston to abuse and intimidate our immigrant communities," Fiorenza said in a statement issued Friday.
Hoo boy. I'm not a Catholic, but I thought the Roman Catholic Church was wiser than to transparently flout the law. What about all the people who follow the rules, why should they be punished, Rev. Fiorenza???
not surprising
I'm outta town a few days, FR cliffdives but some things never change...lol
You'd know...
It is against the law for American citizens to rush to the border with their rifles to try to prevent people from crossing into the United States.
Ah, but the term used to describe these misdemeanor violators was "invaders," as in a state of war between two nations.
If I posted a graphic that depicted the distribution of Caucasians in the United States, would you consider that racism on my part?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.