Minutemen say they've made a difference, but critics disagree

KVOA Tucson Channel 4 News (AP Story) ^

[SandRat]

As their month-long border deployment draws to an end, leaders of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps say their efforts have brought more attention to the illegal immigration issue and more supporters to their border security movement.

Critics are less generous in their assessment, and the U.S. Border Patrol is maintaining its neutral position ----

[Lurker]

My younger brother is a screaming left wing moon bat liberal type who makes Randi Rhodes seem reasonable by comparison. The one subject we agree on is this one.

The Republicans are whistling past the graveyard if they think this is an issue which won't come back to haunt them in November. It's already cost them my vote in the IL Gubernatorial race, and it may cost them my votes in 2008.

L

[DumpsterDiver]

Sombody get a mug shot of this Jennifer Allen so we can all see the face of this enemy.

Jennifer Allen
December 25, 2003

On the morning after the first freeze of the season, Jennifer Allen sat bundled up in the storefront office of the Border Action Network. The heat had gone out; one of the staffers was trying to type in mittens while Allen placed calls to the landlord. She was simultaneously trying to figure out why the computer network had gone down.

Welcome to the world of human-rights activism.

Just a couple of days before, Border Action had launched a high-profile lawsuit against three Cochise County men accused of vigilantism against border crossers. Allen, as Border Action's director, is the public face of the organization, which works to protect human rights, civil rights and the Sonoran Desert along the border.

She necessarily maintains a sober demeanor at press conferences, but off duty, she's animated and even playful. She's sincere about her cause, but she isn't sanctimonious--least of all about herself.

"In high school, I was active in debate," she says of her secondary studies in Northern Utah. "Debate was the bastion of the outcasts--the punks, the kids whose parents smoked. I couldn't fit in anyway. I wasn't Mormon, and I didn't have blond hair and blue eyes (her father is Scots-Irish but her mother's side of the family is Mexican), so getting involved in animal-rights and environmental issues and doing geeky things like that in high school didn't take guts; it was just coming to terms with reality."

"Being young and being a woman isn't that much of a setback," she says. "We're here because we care about people's lives, and we want to help them speak up to resist efforts to undermine their rights.

"In the narrow sense, with Border Action's specific projects, I hope I can be out of a job in five years. But in the bigger picture, this work probably won't be finished in my lifetime."

[snip]

[cripplecreek]

I'm seeing the same thing from the liberals that I know. Better yet, they are blaming government as a whole.

[DumpsterDiver]

Sorry, I posted the right article with the wrong picture. Here's Jennifer:

[LucyT]

Joshua Bolten, New White House Chief of Staff

Mr. Bolten said today that concerning the 'immigration' issue that Americans should 'tone it down'.

You may wish to tell Mr. Bolten what he can do with his opinion.

comments@whitehouse.gov

Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1611802/posts?page=2615#2615

[Lurker]

Thanks Lucy. I'll put that information to good use tomorrow.

L

[A CA Guy]

Minutemen made IMO a major difference because they made national news and brought this to a national state as a national issue.

Before that for over twenty + years we had George Putnam on radio in California who was forecasting this illegal immigration disaster and he and his listeners were the only ones up to speed before the Minutemen IMO.

[joesnuffy]

Border Agents to Americans : "You've Been Invaded

[freedumb2003]

Jennifer Allen, director of the immigrant rights advocacy group Border Action Network, said the group's presence along the border have done nothing to bring real solutions to the problems along the border.

She's right. The only real solution is a big Israel-style wall.

[SandRat]

The actual link

http://www.americanpatrol.com/RECONQUISTA/BORDER-ACTION-NETWORK/IMAGES/JenniferAllen133x148.gif

[Tspud1]

I am from IL also and it a terrible feeling to know that my
senators are so out of touch with the people. I am considering a move to Missouri to save on taxes and not be ashamed anymore. Everytime people ask me to write my congressman or senator, it would be a waste of time.

[OkieDoke]

"the US Border Patrol is maintaining its neutral position"

OK, that explains some things. I thought they were on our side . . . . . . . .

[upchuck]

Sorry about having to excerpt it but the AP is involved in this story.

And???

The AP is not on the must excerpt list. KVOA isn't either.

Perhaps you're confusing the AP with the Wa Po or LAT?

[SandRat]

Well I stand corrected. I won't worry about the Ap any more.

[upchuck]

From the article:

The Minutemen, she [Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties-Arizona chapter] acknowledged, "have been able to exercise their free speech and get their message across that they don't agree with the way our government is enforcing immigration laws."

It is? Cudda fooled me. If it is, where did the 11+ MILLION Criminal Aliens come from?

More from the article:

The ACLU also is present, she added, "to enable them to express their rights. They have a right to express themselves. They just don't have a right to cross the line and take the law into their own hands."

Those "legal observers" in reply #9 above are fine examples of rights being expressed. Looks like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie. LOL!

[Leatherneck_MT]

With 77 Million armed Citizens, I doubt we DON'T have the power to stop it.

[newzjunkey]

What would happen if critics agreed with the object of their criticism? Would they no longer be critics?

The headline is one of those DUH moments.

[Razz Barry]

Those pot heads were not there to keep an eye on the MM. They wanted to make sure their delivery got through.