Posted on 11/02/2005 9:49:58 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Operation Nueces Strip is wrapping up along the Texas-Mexico border.
It was a month-long drill by The Minutemen Group to patrol for illegal immigrants and report them to the feds.
Hundreds of volunteers came from all over the country to take part.
Only on KXAN NBC Austin, Rich Parsons takes you along on a mission.
The old cowboy songs Dave Summers sings in camp on a ranch just outside Falfurrias are a midday break from his midnight missions searching for illegal aliens pouring into south Texas by the thousands.
"We're responding to the government's call for citizens to be vigilant," Dave Summers with the Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps said.
But members of The Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps insist that doesn't make them vigilantes.
"We would like to see law and order restored. But I don't think we'll accomplish the mission by going out there and taking the law into our own hands," President of the Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Al Garza said.
By their own count, the Minutemen reported more than 700 illegal immigrants to the U.S. Border Patrol without a single instance of violence.
"It's understandable that they're coming out here for the milk and honey. That is a country that has that luxury. But if we do it the right way, then we can avoid all the problems including theirs," Garza said.
But a lot of folks like McAllen State Senator Juan Hinojosa worry The Minutemen will spark more problems.
"We need to secure our borders. But the Minutemen is not the answer," Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa admits he doesn't have the answer, but warns civilian patrols could be disastrous.
"There is always a tinge of racism under the surface of some of them. And that is not good because that means they could possibly lose control of their emotions," Hinojosa said.
Summers insists no way.
"All we are is a Texas-sized neighborhood watch group by putting more eyes out here. Yes, we're doing it because the government's not doing it," Summers said.
They do it mostly by night.
For KXAN NBC Austin to be allowed on patrol with The Minutemen, we had to follow all of their very strict rules. That includes dressing in dark clothes and camouflage, staying hidden all night and under no circumstances would we make any contact with any illegal aliens.
On one night, the patrol we're with sets up low in a ditch just off Highway 281.
"We're essentially invisible when it comes night. They don't see us during the night," Kim Fromme with the Texas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps said.
Fromme says that's vital to the operation.
"The cornerstone of our SOP is to observe, report and direct. Not to have any physical and/or verbal contact. We don't talk to them. We don't have any type of contact," Fromme said.
Teams scan the dark with night vision equipment on 27 ranches that have opened their land to The Minutemen.
"It gets pretty boring," Fromme said.
As their month-long operation winds down, they say they're finding fewer illegal aliens.
"They may be adjusting. And we need to adjust," Fromme said.
The Minutemen say that's a sign their mission is having an impact stemming the flow or at least forcing them to cross elsewhere.
"It's a chess game. We're out here. We're still out here," Fromme said.
They promise to stay out here as long as long as it takes to plug the holes in the border.
No one from the U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley Office would comment on the impact The Minutemen have had.
The U.S. Border Patrol and the state of Texas are endorsing what The Minutemen are doing along the border.
Minutemen BTTT
MM Ping!
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The Minutemen, patrolling the borders our government refuses to.
Thanks for posting.
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Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
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Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
Nueces Strip Ping!
I've lived in Falfurrias and had deer leases down in the border country.
They use established trails and watering places. And often break in to deer lease cabins and other places when no one is there.
Don't sweat it, Mr. Hinojosa - I despise you for indulging in race-baiting and unfounded suppositions rather than your skin tone or ethnicity. On the other hand I'd bet good money that you despise me because of my skin tone, ethnicity and insistence on the law being enforced.
Being called a racist by the honorless is an honor.
Don't sweat it, Mr. Hinojosa - I despise you for indulging in race-baiting and unfounded suppositions rather than your skin tone or ethnicity. On the other hand I'd bet good money that you despise me because of my skin tone, ethnicity and insistence on the law being enforced. Being called a racist by the honorless is an honor.
Needs repeating!
I settle on seditionist. He seems to back his "people's" agenda over Constitutional law. Who's the racist now?
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