Posted on 10/10/2005 1:46:24 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Every night for the past week, Dave Summers has set up a lawn chair in the South Texas bush and sat for hours on end, listening.
Summers is from Mesquite, but he's been in and around Falfurrias since July, setting satellite coordinates and tracking signs of movement - in particular, human movement - in preparation for this month's kickoff of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' Texas vigil, which began Oct. 1. Now, he's using that information to determine where he's most likely to cross the path of illegal immigrants. That's where he and his fellow minutemen spend their nights waiting for the sound of human footsteps.
IN FAVOR
Minutemen have stepped in to monitor illegal immigration because the government has failed to do so.
IN OPPOSITION
Minutemen are vigilantes focusing on the Mexican border and looking for someone to oppress.
Depending on whom you talk to, the minutemen are either good citizens doing what needs to be done to protect United States borders, as Summers tells it, or racists looking for someone to oppress, as Mike Chavez, organizer of the Coastal Bend's branch of the Contra Minutemen Coalition believes.
Mike Vickers, sector chief of the minuteman group and owner of the ranch where they're currently based, says racists are carefully screened out during an interview process, and many of those involved said they conducted their own screening of the group for racism before joining it.
But Chavez said not all racists are eliminated from the group and pointed to Bill Parmley'sresignation from his former post of president of the Texas Minuteman branch as proof. Parmley could not be reached for comment, but according to an Associated Press article, he claimed in his resignation e-mail that the group had racist tendencies.
The Contra Minutemen met for the first time Saturday in Falfurrias to announce their reasons for opposing the minutemen. About a half-dozen Contra Minutemen gathered outside Vickers' ranch to show their disapproval of the minutemen. A state trooper dispersed the group without conflict.
Summers said the routine doesn't involve an actual patrol, but six or eight or 12 hours of sitting, listening and watching. He said the routine involves four steps: listen, identify sounds heard, report it if it's someone who's not supposed to be there - which is anyone, since the minutemen are on private ranches and no one else has permission to be there - and then do nothing. The minutemen aren't supposed to have any contact with the people they observe, other than to offer them water or help if it seems necessary, according to the group's standard operating procedure.
"We observe, we report," Vickers said. "That's about it."
Federal neglect alleged
It might not sound like much, but the minutemen say it has to be done because the government isn't doing it. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 410,767 illegal immigrants were apprehended on the Texas/Mexico border in the past year, and Summers worries about the terrorists, drugs and health problems that might be crossing with those the Border Patrol missed.
"It seems like we're more concerned about the border between Syria and Iraq than we are about the United States," he said. "If I were not to pay my income tax, they would take steps to see that I anted up. Why can't our federal government protect our borders?"
As a Falfurrias rancher who rescues about a dozen illegal immigrants from heat stroke and dehydration every year and has seen the bodies of those who weren't rescued near his property, Vickers has personal reasons as to why he would like to put an end to illegal immigration.
The U.S. Border Patrol says 154 illegal immigrants have died during their journey from Mexico to Texas in the past 12 months, and the Border Patrol has rescued another 1,008. About 30 have died in Brooks, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kleberg and Webb counties, said Nueces County Medical Examiner Ray Fernandez.
Vickers attributes the deaths and rescues to immigrants who paid coyotes to help them over the border but were abandoned before they reached safety.
"It's heartbreaking," Vickers said. "I live this every day. There's always been traffic, but I've seen it grow from a friendly, non-violent segment who were just looking for a job, to a huge group of people from all over the world that are being transported by coyotes who are violent and have no regard for human rights and private property."
Motives suspect
Chavez doesn't believe the minutemen's motives are so altruistic, and the fact that the minutemen waive the registration fee for members if they have a concealed handgun license only increases his fears.
"It's not against border invasion," Chavez said of the minutemen. "It's not about that. It's about they have trouble with Latin immigration."
Summers said the fee is waived because it pays for the same sort of background check the State of Texas does when someone applies for a concealed handgun license. Everyone applying to become a minuteman is required to get a background check, unless they have a concealed handgun license.
Whatever their reasons, more than 500 minutemen volunteers are watching the Texas border this month, and they say they'll stay there until they think the government has picked up the slack. In South Texas, they are patrolling private ranches in Brooks, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg and Starr counties. The group hopes to expand its patrol in the Coastal Bend.
The minutemen wouldn't say how many reports they'd made to the Border Patrol, and Border Patrol agents would not comment specifically on the minutemen. But Vickers said he believed the minutemen were making some headway.
"The first couple of days were just crazy," he said. "We had the Border Patrol just running their legs off."
Ratio of 10 to 1
If the government doesn't step up, the minutemen hope to have 10 minutemen volunteers for every Border Patrol agent currently deployed. As Pat Byrne, a member from Kerrville, explained it, they're only asking the government to enforce its own laws.
"I don't care who you are, I'd just like you to sign the book," Byrne said. "Kind of like my great-grandpa did six or seven generations back.
"When they got off the boat, they signed the book, declared their intentions, were medically vetted and then a man said 'Here's a great opportunity for you and your family down this gangplank.' I don't think those are unreasonable questions."
Contact Brandi Dean at 886-3778 or deanb@caller.com deanb@caller.com.
They are also currently in 8 states that border on Canada.
I made it that far.........
They really should be up around Coldbrook NH. (massive drug trade)
I'd rather go to Texas and take my chances with the Coyotes, smugglers and MS-13. Here in NY you have the Mohawk Warrior Society (really bad dudes, into running guns, drugs, cigarettes and whatever across the St. Lawrence River) and their backers in certain Sicilian immigrant 'families.'
Besides, here in NY law-abiding gun owners are considered to be the enemy of public safety. At least in Texas, if there were trouble, I could expect a fair trial.
If it comes down to bloodshed between the Contras/MS-13 and the Minutmen (and I ferverently pray it does not) then I will have to pack up the .30/40 and head for the Lone Star State.
"It's not against border invasion," Chavez said of the minutemen. "It's not about that. It's about they have trouble with Latin immigration."
That's the spin that pro-illegal groups are attempting to put on the Minutemen. The only trouble I have with 'Latin immigration' is that 99% of it is ILLEGAL! Criminals go to jail, they do not get free medical care, drivers licenses, and American jobs. If I lived in Texas or any border state I would be among the first volunteers. Instead, I'll make donations to the cause and CHEER every victory.
Go Minutemen!!
Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
They can leave their "Latin" behind in their old countries because "Latin" by any logic must mean mess, or they wouldn't leave in the first place.
Well how many people do you think believe them?
The elites are trying to create a North American free trade zone where goods, services and PEOPLE flow back and forth like UPS packages. If corporation A discovers that American computer engineers cost too much, get a cheap Chinese or Indian thru H-1B. UPS driver too expensive, immigrate a Honduran thru a subcontractor. All this would be possible if immigration laws are undermind or ignored. At the big picture level, this free trade zone will increase corporate profits, but at the people level it will create social upheaval and friction. CEO's do not care. Many conservatives think this is a liberal plot, but the bulk of the money that indirectly funds immigration advocate groups indirectly comes from corporate foundations. They give it to a humanitarian foundation who in turns gives it to another set of foundations and they in turn give to another set of foundations until it works down to the liberal Hispanic groups. Point this out to corporate CEO's and they will tell you they cannot control where the money goes once it is given to other foundations. Oh really? Let us see how well they control the money if one of the foundations several levels below give money to the KKK or pro Assault Rifle Movement.
It's good that such seditious trash as Chavez has come out with his position in support of these criminal acts .....I hate having to go look for the criminal element when put to task.
He is just as guilty as the rest of the criminals illegally entering the USA be they mexican or OTM's.......back on yer X Chavez !
The elites in Washington have no intention of enforcing immigration laws. If they did, it would have been done.
The volunteers deserve our respect and support, and their ideas are spreading throughout America, thank God.
Sad for America that this President doesn't agree with that.
If they go to jail they do.
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