Well, many said there would be infiltration and copycats. Point made.
Posted on 10/30/2005 4:10:19 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Group says it has reported 300-800 illegal immigrants
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will wrap up its first month of watching the Texas border this week, and the group says the month was a success and it has no plans to quit now.
"We are determined that we are not going to leave until (the government) relieves us of our duties," said Al Garza, the director of operations for the Minuteman group in Texas. "It will be with limited personnel, but we know where the hotspots are, and we're going to deploy there."
Garza said there were about 600 volunteers involved this month, and about 300 remain. Mike Vickers, the Falfurrias sector chief, said more volunteers keep coming to replace those who have gone home.
"We're still hard at it," he said. "Even though our official operation ends Monday, we're hanging tough."
Garza and Vickers' estimates vary on just how successful the month was. Garza said he believes the group has reported about 300 sightings to the Border Patrol, and about half of those were detained. Vickers, who owns the Falfurrias ranch where the Minuteman group is headquartered, said the group has reported more than 800 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol around Falfurrias and in the Rio Grande Valley.
Roy Cervantes, spokesman for the Border Patrol's McAllen sector, said he could not confirm either number over the weekend.
One thing Garza and Vickers agree upon, however, is that reports of their minutemen harassing local residents by pulling them over late at night - or by carrying guns into restaurants - are untrue.
"That's a fallacy," Garza said. "I think it's a fabricated story. If anyone has done that, it was not the minutemen. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps does not pull anybody over. We do not arrest. We do not detain. Nor do we pretend to be law enforcement."
Vickers blamed the stories on people pretending to be minutemen to make the group look bad.
"I can just tell you that's not the minutemen," he said. "The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps that we have here absolutely does not do anything like that."
Several Falfurrias restaurant proprietors who were contacted said they hadn't seen any gun-toting minutemen, or any harassment.
Vickers said the Contra Minutemen Coalition, who made some of the accusations and have called the minutemen racists, were racists themselves.
"They have absolutely no idea what we do because they can't step one foot on this property without landing in jail," Vickers said. "I think they ought to be tried for treason. If they were really concerned about America, they'd be out there trying to stop this invasion, but they're not."
The Caller-Times made three appointments to observe the Minuteman group's watches, but all three appointments were canceled.
Contact Brandi Dean at 886-3778 or deanb@caller.com deanb@caller.com
Several Falfurrias restaurant proprietors who were contacted said they hadn't seen any gun-toting minutemen, or any harassment.
The ACLU must be sorely disappointed. Kudos to the Minutemen.
"...people pretending to be Minutemen..."
No doubt these are contract workers.
The question is, who is employing them?
La Raza? The Federal Government? The media?
The answers, when revealed, will be interesting.
Good for them!
The good and the bad of the Texas border, it's mostly private property. Also part of the problem with putting the military there.
"The question is, who is employing them?"
Follow the money! Drug smugglers, Slavers, Terroristas?
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Seems far too many don't quite understand that, especially BOR.
O'Rielly didn't like the Swift Boat Veterans either!
LOL! Mexico tried it and ended up with PEMEX!
MM ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Private owners might lease a strip by the river for the military to patrol.
That's why I've called for federalizing a quarter- to half-mile strip of land on our side of the border and declaring it a "military base" so that anyone caught on it can be searched without a warrant or probable cause, charged with criminal trespass, and sent home just like it would be if they were caught on any other military base in the country.
Uh, yeah. LOL
You would try and solve the illegal problem by violating the property rights of American citizens?
Not what this country, nor this state, was founded on.
I'm ignorant where Texas is concerned, but the entire border in Arizona has a road that is part of the border, with Mexico on one side and quite a bit of private property on the other. It's just like a utility easement alongside your house inside city limits.
Is Texas really different?
Well, many said there would be infiltration and copycats. Point made.
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