Dr. Mike Vickers, patriot
Posted on 10/26/2005 1:44:23 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
FALFURRIAS, Texas, Oct. 25, 2005
(CBS) They've been called everything from visionaries to vigilantes. Whatever you think of these self-described night watchmen of the border, the Minutemen seem to be right about one thing:
"It's going to grow, and it's going to surprise a lot of people who were hoping we would go away," one Minuteman says.
They're not going away, CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports.
The Minutemen have been trying to expand beyond Arizona, to California, New Mexico and Texas. To prove their increased numbers, they launched what they call a 30-day patrol this month with thousands of volunteers turning out to guard the border in all four states.
"I think our next 9/11 is going to be coming right through this Southern border," Minuteman Dr. Lee Vickers says.
Vickers, a veterinarian and a rancher, is helping to lead the charge in Texas.
He estimates at least 100 illegal immigrants sneak across his ranch every single night. His duty as a Minuteman, he says, is simple: "To document this flood of people, to try to assist the border patrol to catch them and to show Washington what's going on andhow bad it really is," Vickers explains.
But this month, the Minutemen also tried another tack — not just patrolling the border, but patrolling big cities with big immigrant populations (video).
Chris Simcox is the organization's president.
"Our job is to intimidate law enforcement," Simcox, president of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp, says.
But they're not targeting law enforcement. They're targeting day laborers — undocumented immigrants, who gather on street corners looking for work while the Minutemen say police look the other way.
"We want to go after the fact that people are employing illegal aliens and that's a violation of federal law," Simcox says.
They're now videotaping those doing the hiring and if it scares off day laborers like Jose Sedillo in the process, that's O.K. too.
One man told Cowan he would run if Minutemen appeared at his corner. "But I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just looking for work," he says.
Critics argue it's not only unreasonable to expect the police do to the work of the immigration officers, but it's practically impossible.
"They don't have enough police officers to keep the city as safe as it needs to be, and putting them in charge of border enforcement would be a massive disaster," Rene Wizig-Barrios of the Industrial Areas Foundation, a non-partisan community political group, says.
Either way, Vickers isn't proud of trying to shame his government into fixing the problem, but as he puts it: "We have no other choice, we're on our own out here," he says.
Not a new frontier, but an old one, growing more crowded by the day.
Been real quiet in Houston though...
There is a rally here this Saturday.
I'll post the details at Houston Loonybin.
If any of your Minuteman are reading this, then a BIG THANK YOU MY BROTHERS! It is probably too late to deal with so many illegals already here any time soon but we certainly can slow the stem of them coming in at this point.
Like where, Louisiana or Mississippi?
Here in Texas we've got two big borders to patrol for illegals:
the Rio Grande and the Red River...
MM Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
the Rio Grande and the Red River...
That's what my family used to say about the Ohio River...!
It isn't being talked about as much, but the MMP also tried patrolling the Canadian border for awhile. There wasn't much activity up there. I wonder why?
God Bless the Minutemen!
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
There you is! I go to the valley alot and bring what I can for the MMen. Just wish I could stick around with them.
People who aren't 'doing anything wrong' don't run.
Let's send a great man and a loud and clear message to Washington in the December 6th special election to fill Chris Cox's vacant CA-48 congressional seat:
http://www.JimGilchrist.com
For anyone who doesn't know, Jim Gilchrist is a former Marine, a decorated Vietnam vet and the founder of the Minuteman Project.
A real American hero!
And he's already proved that he knows how to make the politicians sweat!
Sounds good to me!
I live between the Nueces and the Rio Grand.
Good work
Carry on
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.