"-- They are a self-appointed Vigilance Committee. Such committees are the origin of the use of vigilante in its English form. --"
Yes, I am aware of that meaning. However, you and I and everyone else understood from the context that it was meant in a pejorative sense. The implication of lawlessness and racism was clear, and any positive connotation was completely absent.
Truth is truth. The Minutemen are self-appointed border control agents. In other words, a self-appointed Vigilance Committee. Vigilantes. The word has a pejorative connotation due to the way many vigilantes operated in the past. However, that in no way negates the truth that the Minutemen are, in fact, vigilantes. If people such as yourself are uncomfortable with the term as applied to the Minutemen, I say too bad. They cannot willingly become vigilantes and not expect to be called such.
In addition, while not all people who want to wall off our southern border are "racists" (a term which I despise due to its overuse), no one can honestly deny that many bigots are among those who want to do so.