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Posted on 04/01/2006 7:05:24 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Critic says he's worried about human rights
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will be patrolling South Texas ranches again starting today, but this time curbing illegal immigration is only one of its goals.
"April is traditionally a real, real active month," said State Director Mike Vickers, owner of the Falfurrias ranch the group is using for its headquarters. "But we're also doing it now because we knew Congress would be in session."
And the group is very interested in sending a message to Congress. Al Garza, the organization's national executive director, said its goal is to initiate recall elections on all U.S. congressmen.
"We want them out of office," he said. "We are in danger, and they're not taking it seriously. They don't belong in office. They belong in Mexico. They're representing the illegal immigrants and corporate America. We have no room anymore for people who don't listen to us."
Garza said he's not sure yet how the Minuteman group will go about recalling all the congressmen, but he believes it is possible. He said the issue will be discussed today in Phoenix, where a kick-off rally for the April watches is being held. Month-long watches will begin today in Arizona, New Mexico, California and Washington state. Shorter watches will be going on in New Hampshire and New York.
This is the group's second month-long border watch in Texas, and Vickers said it's attracted more volunteers than ever because of the recent protests and debates on border issues. As of Friday morning, more than 7,000 had signed up to help nationwide.
"We've got people rolling in from all corners of the United States as we speak," he said. "Since all this stuff's been coming out in the news, Minuteman signups have been up five-fold over last month. The national headquarters has been getting more than 1,000 calls a day."
Mike Chavez finds that hard to believe. As organizer of the local branch of the Contra Minutemen Coalition, a group that opposes the minutemen, he said he's watched them every chance he's gotten and he's seen no evidence of the numbers Vickers claims.
"They've blown up the numbers," Chavez said. "It's going to be a lot less than what they're saying. Every time we monitor them, we never see more than a dozen of them."
The Contra Minutemen have been unable to observe any of the minutemen at work because they monitor only private ranches, Chavez said. But he reports that no more than a dozen have been seen at one time in Falfurrias restaurants.
Right now, Vickers said his ranch is housing about 50 people, but he's expecting to see 200 before the weekend is over and 500 in the course of the month. He imagines that number will be enough to have patrols going all day, every day. The group has permission to be on any of 30 ranches covering 600,000 acres in Jim Hogg, Brooks, Starr and Hidalgo counties, he said, but won't be able to man all of them. That's about 937 square miles - almost a fifth of the total land the counties cover.
"We'll deploy where we have to," Vickers said. "We won't have people on most of those ranches, but we'll still cover the area."
Vickers believes the group has been fairly successful at covering the area in the past. The members are sent out in groups of three or more to particular GPS coordinates on the ranches. They're not to go more than 20 feet in any direction. If they see people moving through the ranches, they assume they are there illegally because the ranches are private and report them to the United States Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol.
The minutemen are not supposed to have any contact with illegal immigrants, Vickers said.
"Only if there's an emergency situation where the illegals come up to us and are desperate for help," he said. "Then we'll give them water and call emergency services."
Vickers said the Falfurrias group reported 802 sightings - which could be large groups or single people - to the Border Patrol in October, and he believes the officers were able to catch about 23 percent of them. Maria Valencia, a spokesperson for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C., said the agency couldn't confirm that because all reports from citizens are treated the same - no record is made of whether they came from minutemen or someone else.
She did say, however, that apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the Border Patrol's Falfurrias checkpoint went up by more than 3,000 over last year since the minutemen have begun their watches. She did not have numbers available for the same period two years ago.
Valencia was more concerned with another statistic, however. Since last year, she said, border violence has increased 100 percent. While the Border Patrol welcomes assistance from any concerned citizen, she said, patrolling the border is a dangerous job meant for trained officers.
"Those duties should be left to the Border Patrol," she said. "That's what we're trained for."
And Chavez is worried that the violence will be reversed. He said the Contra Minutemen have had two reports of Falfurrias residents being pulled over by minutemen posing as law enforcement, and he believes they may do worse in the privacy of the ranches.
"We're worried about civil rights violations of our citizens, and we're worried about human rights violations of people coming into the country," Chavez said. "We're supposed to be the greatest country in the world, and these guys go out hunting immigrants?"
Vickers denies that minutemen in Falfurrias pulled anyone over, and Chavez said he has had no reports of violence against illegal immigrants.
Contact Brandi Dean at 886-3778 or deanb@ caller.com
Start with the coyote abuses, Chavez! They kill and injure hundreds of illegals.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Human rights, no way they they want to be treated with special rights above which no other person on the planet enjoys. Special rights including working without visas while abroad, immigrating to a foreign county without applying for citizenship , visiting a foreign country without a passport , driving in a foreign county without an international drivers license, trying to vote as a non resident, delinquent on income taxes, receiving free health care without paying state disability insurance, and in-state tuitions for college.
Final Results (Registered FReepers only)
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/poll?poll=144;results=1
Free Republic Opinion Poll:
Do you support or oppose H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005?
FReeper Member Opinion
Support 83.6% 1,499
Support = Enforcement of existing immigation laws.
Oppose 16.4% 295
Oppose = Reward illegal "guest workers" with a "path" to citizenship.
100.0% 1,794
Thank Goodness the FReeper RINO's are only 16.4 %
It's time for a National Protest Illegal Immigration Rally !
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BUMP!
This Chavez character is a complete idiot, "hunting (illegal) immigrants."
Chavez said. "We're supposed to be the greatest country in the world, and these guys go out hunting immigrants?"
This guy makes out like there's heads of illegals hanging on fencepost like catfish and coyotes. It's closer to a camera safari.
This guy makes out like there's heads of illegals hanging on fencepost like catfish and coyotes. It's closer to a camera safari.
Give it time. He could be a pretty fair prophet. Once they start in with the clubs, machetes and Molotov Cocktails, expect the backlash to be extreme.
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