Posted on 10/06/2005 9:31:10 AM PDT by TLI
September 30, 2005
Section: A Section
Page: 1A
Awaiting the Minutemen
While some worry, others welcome civilian patrols
Louie Gilot
El Paso Times
El Paso Times
FABENS -- The imminent arrival of the Minutemen to the Lower Valley has some locals curious, others annoyed and a few fearful.
None are more divided than Senovia Vallejo and her husband, Eliseo Vallejo, of Fort Hancock.
The Minutemen "are abusing a lot of people, immigrants. They say they don't, but I think they do," she said.
"No, they don't," he answered over the table they shared last week at Margarita's Cafe in Fabens.
"I was going to be one of them. I was going to help the Border Patrol," he said as she rolled her eyes. "But I changed my mind. I don't want to get involved."
A group called the Texas Minutemen LLC downsized its plans to place hundreds of volunteers along the Texas border for one month starting Oct. 1. Instead, the group will focus on a strip between Fabens and Fort Hancock. Other groups will cover California, Arizona and New Mexico.
The operation, modeled after the effort launched in April in Arizona, will have the volunteers sitting in folding chairs and scanning the border with binoculars for undocumented immigrants running into the United States. They promise they will call the Border Patrol if they spot anyone and won't make contact with immigrants. Some will be armed for their own protection, organizers said.
Shannon McGauley, a co-founder of Texas Minutemen in Dallas, believes the volunteers will be welcome, if only because they will spend money at local hotels and restaurants.
"There are a lot of people that are glad we're there, but they are afraid to say it," he said in a recent telephone interview.
But some locals say differently.
"I don't think they're necessary. We have a big Border Patrol station. (Agents) are up and down here all the time," Fabens resident Alex Fierro said.
The American Civil Liberties Union in El Paso said it will send observers to the Lower Valley and beyond to watch the Minutemen for violations of civil and human rights. Most residents say they'll just wait and see.
"I'm not going to do anything. I won't even acknowledge their presence," said County Commissioner Miguel Teran, who represents the Lower Valley. "People seeking to cross the border are desperate people in desperate times. (The Minutemen) are making a joke out of it. They're playing games."
In the past three years, the number of immigrants caught by agents of the Fabens Border Patrol station has doubled. The station is now one of the busiest in the El Paso sector, with about 20,000 apprehensions this year. Agency officials say they will monitor the group's activities.
The Texas Minutemen have recruited more than 500 volunteers for the operation. The group expects that fewer than half will actually show up to patrol. A few volunteers will come from El Paso, but most will come either from Texas away from the border or from non-border states.
This makes nun Sylvia Chacon of Santa Teresa Catholic Church in Fort Hancock nervous. She said the Minutemen don't know the ways of border communities.
"Our young people are used to parking their cars on the U.S. side and walking across the border on the weekends. They walk back at night. That would look suspicious to someone who doesn't know," she said.
The church has had several meetings about the Minutemen's arrival and has discussed fears of being racially profiled.
McGauley said El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego, who supports the group's efforts, gave him a pamphlet explaining the local laws of which he must be aware.
Volunteers say they have obtained permission from landowners along the river to sit on their land.
Bill Lovelady, a Tornillo farmer with 1,000 acres of cotton, said that he hasn't been asked but that he'd gladly allow the volunteers in.
"I don't care. They can come on my land if they want to," he said. "But people around here already do what the Minutemen do. They call the Border Patrol when they see someone."
Lovelady believes the volunteers can bring national attention to the pressing issue of undocumented immigration.
Lovelady finds empty water bottles and muddy clothing left behind by undocumented immigrants in his fields and irrigation ditches on a daily basis. And like most other border farmers, he can tell the size of a group of migrants, whether they are men or women and when they came through by reading footprints in his cotton fields. Last week, a group of 20 people walked by his house.
"People who don't live around here don't know what it's like," he said.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
"undocumented immigrants" Don't you love the newspeak?
More later, direct from the border.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS/510020351/1001/ARCHIVES
""Our young people are used to parking their cars on the U.S. side and walking across the border on the weekends. They walk back at night. That would look suspicious to someone who doesn't know," she said."
And she thinks this is ok??
So, by her logic, I should be able to go to, say, germany and just 'walk across the border' to have a few drinks without the German's charging me with being in the country Illegally...
I'm sure they would understand.. Right?
What an idiot!
Of course they will understand. They will understand that you will be arrested, jailed and fined. Yes, they will understand perfectly. So will you.
Update. Air observation Operations start today. The pilot is up for the second time, first time today. We are expecting a second aircraft to arrive on Monday.
Also, we have reports that the Chris Simcox operation in Hatchita, NM was visited by Chris and there were problems. Many of his volunteers have left because of Chris, I did not get any specific details other than Chris need coaching on leadership skills.
More when I get it and can get to a computer.
ping
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
Good going, TLI.
You mean that you don't usually get a BP helicopter overhead, two minutes after calling them?
< /sarcasm >
Nope, not a BP Helicopter. BUT I can get a couple of Texas Minutemen observation planes overhead in that about of time!
Seriously, using the two observation aircraft we have with just a few ground vehicles is ten times as effective as masses of observers on the ground. Using our method, combining roving vehicles with air observation support with a reduced number of static observers in key locations is the way to go. We have been getting outstanding results and we are covering about 36 miles of border.
They got 45 pounds. dont know if it was heiron or coka. Personal count for the day ... spotted mex army today, one group of two on the US side, another group of eight, one ACLU white jeep, and got flipped off for thirty seconds by two mex drug dealers from the south side, not bad for one day.
More later, way tired now.
Sounds terrific, how long will you have the standby aircraft?
The rest of this week and then the last week of the month. Going out now for a dawn operation.
Stay safe!
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