Posted on 05/03/2006 8:31:36 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Minuteman Project civilian border patrol group planned to kick off a 12-city tour Wednesday to build support for its get-tough border stance in the wake of pro-immigant rallies around the country.
Organizers said they will use the caravan, which is scheduled to finish on Capitol Hill, to mobilize voters and recruit members. The group is made up of volunteers who patrol the border and strongly oppose illegal immigration.
The group hopes to counter the impact made by the more than 1 million illegal immigrants and their supporters who took to the nation's streets earlier this week. Project officials acknowledged, however, that they would have a hard time mustering the same kind of numbers for a rally of their own. Demonstrations by the Minuteman Project on Monday were scattered and small, often numbering fewer than 100 people per city.
"Our power is not putting a million people on the street, our power is putting 10 million people at the voting box," said Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director. "Their voice is accompanied by a lot of bodies, but our voice is accompanied by even more bodies who aren't going to go out in the street."
The caravan is scheduled to leave from Los Angeles and arrive on Capitol Hill for a May 12 rally as senators rush to pass an immigration reform bill before a Memorial Day deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
Federal lawmakers must then reconcile the Senate bill - which will likely include a guest worker program and a potential path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants - with a House bill that would criminalize them.
The caravan will include about 100 staff members and supporters, said Eichler. It will stop in President Bush's vacation haven of Crawford, Texas, as well as in Phoenix, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Abilene, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Montgomery, Ala.; Atlanta; and Richmond, Va.
One supporter, Penny Magnotto of Upland, Calif., said she and a friend were planning to follow the caravan in their RV and visit seven additional states on their return to recruit more members.
"If one in 100 people that we meet up with kind of get it and see that we're nice family people I will be thrilled," said Magnotto, founder of the Minuteman spin-off Minutewomen on the Road.
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On the Net:
Minuteman Project: http://www.minutemanproject.com
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As long as it's not of the 'Che' variety...
As much sense as this rhetoric makes, just imagine a 'Democrat majority' - talk about going from bad to worse!
I would like to see some action with a more beneficial short and long term impact than simply voting the 'pubs out and the dems in.
Could just be wishful thinking, but I'm gonna wish anyway... :^)
Could just be wishful thinking, but I'm gonna wish anyway... :^)
The ones the media decided not to show you; instead, we had Baghdad Bobs reporting about "Dancing in the Streets" and the "blissful" singing in Spanish our National Anthem.
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