Looks like these American Citizens are misunderestimating our leader's wish to abolish the United States.
Posted on 08/10/2003 9:21:50 AM PDT by Rennes Templar
An Arizona newspaper owner and founder of a citizens' group whose goal is to thwart illegal immigration says U.S. Border Patrol officials in Washington have instructed field agents in his area to contact local authorities whenever the group intercepts and turns in illegal aliens.
Chris Simcox, editor of the Tombstone Tumbleweed and leader of Civil Homeland Defense, or CHD, told WorldNetDaily local Border Patrol supervisors and agents say their orders to contact the Cochise County Sheriff's Department whenever his volunteers hand over illegal aliens came straight from Washington, D.C.
"[Last] weekend we were notified by a Border Patrol supervisor that the word has come down directly from Washington that they are now to call in Cochise County sheriff [personnel] to interrogate every group we turn over to Border Patrol," Simcox told WorldNetDaily. "The supervisor actually apologized and told us he knows were doing a good job, yet he just has to do his job and do what he is told."
The impetus for the phone call to deputies, Simcox says, is to ensure none of the migrants are treated badly, harmed or held against their will.
CHD, like Texas-based Ranch Rescue and a handful of local residents in southwestern states, "patrol" sections of the U.S./Mexico border with an eye toward deterring illegal entry. Oftentimes, groups encounter migrants that have entered illegally already inside the U.S.; when that happens, the groups usually summon nearby Border Patrol offices so agents can pick them up and process them back to their country of origin.
But in recent months, perhaps due to increased pressure from pro-immigrant rights groups and attorneys, volunteers like Simcox say there has been stepped-up scrutiny of their activities by local and federal officials. They claim Washington's goal is to get the groups to stop intercepting and detaining illegals.
Since March, some border-group volunteers have been arrested and charged with mistreating illegals.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Ranch Rescue volunteers Casey Nethercott and Hank Conner were arrested in Hebbronville, Texas, by a Texas Ranger for allegedly pistol-whipping two illegal aliens from El Salvador. They discovered the illegals – a man and woman – while patrolling a vast swath of property owned by local rancher Joe Sutton. Sutton invited Ranch Rescue to the property for the purpose of intercepting illegals, but both men remain in custody.
And last week, Glenn Spencer, founder and head of American Border Patrol, a group that conducts electronic and other high-tech surveillance of illegal border crossings, was arrested on charges he unlawfully discharged a firearm in the back yard of his Cochise County home in Sierra Vista.
Reports said Spencer may have been firing at persons who entered his property illegally. Also, information posted at Spencer's website said he had received death threats for two days before the alleged break-in.
"Border alliance groups are launching an advertising campaign in Mexico that will encourage people to report abuse by civilian border groups and Border Patrol agents," Simcox said. "Border Patrol supervisors have clear orders from Washington to do everything possible to stop us," saying three separate agents confirmed the order.
Authorities, however, deny they are targeting the civilian groups.
Frank Amarillas, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman for the Tucson, Ariz., sector, said what Simcox is claiming is actually long-standing agency policy.
"The U.S. Border Patrol respects the views and opinions of diverse groups and organizations," he told WorldNetDaily. "And we encourage all members of the public to report any suspicious activity to the appropriate law-enforcement agency."
But, he said, "forced detention can also be viewed as a criminal offense. Violators will be forwarded to local, state or federal prosecutors for possible legal action. This has been in effect for a long time."
When asked what constituted forced detention, Amarillas said, "When any person is not allowed to move about freely, by any means, on their own."
Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, said Border Patrol agents have contacted deputies to interview migrants turned in either by civilian groups or private citizens and landowners.
But, she told WorldNetDaily, it is longstanding departmental policy to interrogate migrants when requested to do so, not a policy that has recently been developed to discriminate against the civilian groups.
"I don't know what orders have been issued to Border Patrol specifically … however, I do know that we have been contacted several times by [them]," Capas said. "We have interviewed people to ensure that they have not felt threatened or harmed in any way when they were apprehended or held until law enforcement could get there. We've always done this."
One organization, the Border Action Network, or BAN, confirmed in a statement that it is launching "a Mexico-wide media blitz … seeking victims of vigilante violence."
"Lawless gangs of armed vigilantes are stalking people they believe are migrants in southern Arizona," the statement said. "Though the Border Action Network has released a 30-page report on these groups and urged legislators to investigate vigilante activities, no action has yet been taken."
BAN is planning twin media events Aug. 12 in Mexico and the U.S. to announce its "bi-national campaign to stop vigilantes" – the term it has applied to the civilian border groups – in the southern Arizona region.
Zoe Hammer-Tomizuka, a spokeswoman for BAN, told WorldNetDaily she was somewhat familiar with Simcox's claims.
"That sounds right to me," she said. "I know [the Border Patrol] is supposed to contact the Mexican consulate" when the agency processes illegal aliens.
Hammer-Tomizuka also says her organization has not been contacted by migrants complaining of mistreatment by civilian border groups, but, she said, "we have a list of migrants who have been assaulted," which has been "corroborated by government sources." She did not elaborate.
"We're in the process of intensifying our campaign to find them," she said. "We're doing public service ads in newspapers and on the radio – especially in Chiapas and Mexico City, because we know that a number of assault victims come from those areas."
She said BAN had already begun to receive some response from its campaign, but did not have specifics. She said the information would be used by attorneys working with the organization "to bring civil suits against the attackers."
Simcox called such actions "a witch hunt." He also said some local Border Patrol agents and officials backed his group's actions.
Capas says while the department does question migrants to determine if they felt threatened or if they were held at gunpoint, authorities do not automatically take the side of the illegal alien in disputes.
When asked what constituted proper procedure if, for example, an armed civilian border group member or private property owner felt threatened by the presence of illegals, Capas said deputies would investigate all relevant claims.
"Such incidents may have happened on occasion," she said. "But we conduct the interviews to try to determine what happened, then send all of the information to the county prosecuting attorney's office for a legal determination."
Some immigrant-reform groups believe such tactics are meant to intimidate the border groups and other Americans concerned with stemming the flow of illegal immigration. That said, they also believe Simcox should proceed with caution.
"Mr. Simcox is going to have to be very careful," Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told WorldNetDaily.
"The organizations that are trying to bankrupt [him] or get him prosecuted are pretty powerful and sophisticated," Stein said. "I'm sure the strategy is to cook up a bunch of frivolous allegations that will eventually require defense."
But, he added, such tactics aimed at volunteers whose only goal is to stem illegal immigration is in itself an abomination.
"If these ethnic activists think Americans are just going to roll over and let their borders be trampled, they're wrong," said Stein. "It's too bad when citizen activists don't believe the government is performing its core function (protection of borders) and, at the same time, they're being coerced and pushed around by people who essentially have an agenda.
"Ethnic activists want to destroy the nation's borders, and they'll do anything they can to try to bring that about," said Stein.
I could see a case if illegal aliens were detained on Federal or public lands, however. That is where Simcox would have to e concerned.
But I predicted this way back when the idea was first broached: Instead of addressing the problem, the government would go after those trying to do something about it. And that is what is happening. Eventually, this is going to turn hostile, or at least nasty, like Klamath did.
(/sarcasm)
Travis McGee posting from off-site.
The Mexican Army 'invades' over the border frequently, providing armed security for drug deliveries, and our government isn't remotely concerned.
Looks like these American Citizens are misunderestimating our leader's wish to abolish the United States.
My understanding is that Bustamante's grandparents were the immigrants. (I'll see if I can locate the source for that.)
August 06, 2003
Thefts alter American Border Patrol's timeline, but not its efforts
BY BILL HESS
Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA - As the American Border Patrol increases its high-tech inventory to fight what founder and president Glenn Spencer has in the past called an illegal immigrant invasion of the United States, extra care and concern is now the order of the day for the organization.
With someone taking electronic equipment and other items critical to supporting satellite transmissions from the group's headquarters, Spencer said the organization has to move to a more rural and secure area.
Since the first of the year, he has made two complaints to the Cochise County Sheriff's Department about items being taken from a home that is the organization's headquarters and Spencer's residence at the intersection of Equestrian Drive and Yaqui Street in a neighborhood south of Sierra Vista.
Sheriff spokeswoman Carol Capas said a complaint was filed in early January about electronic equipment being taken from a van at Spencer's home. Another complaint was made Friday about more high-tech items being taken.
On Tuesday, Spencer showed the trailer from which a generator to power the organization's mobile Internet satellite transmitter was taken either late Thursday or early Friday.
"One guy can't pick it up," he said.
The generator was on wheels, so those who took it probably rolled it away, Spencer said.
Because the generator is missing, the organization cannot send out real-time video of some of its operations, he said.
A large chain was used to secure a gate leading to a field behind his combination headquarters and residence. Spencer said the people who took the generator off the trailer used bolt cutters to open the gate. A piece of the chain was still on the ground.
For some reason, whoever used the bolt cutters left them near a bush, he said. That tool is now in the Sheriff's Department's custody as part of the investigation.
After apparently entering the locked field area, the thieves came into the small courtyard behind the house and took other electronic equipment, Spencer said. Pointing to an area not far from the covered patio, Spencer said, "I was asleep in that bedroom and I didn't hear them."
A little chagrin, Spencer said there was an in-ground sensor in the field where the trailer and truck was located, "but it wasn't plugged in."
American Border Patrol is in the process of testing and developing sensors, with 30 of them in place on private property to track the foot traffic of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers, he said.
Fine-tuning the sensors continues, with the long range goal of eventually putting in 500 of the devices, he said.
The organization also is testing and developing radio-controlled aircraft to be used to spot illegal activities crossing into the United States from Mexico.
The unmanned aircraft have day and night capabilities, and plans are progressing for a larger plane that will be able to carry more equipment and fly for more than two hours, Spencer said. Once an aircraft takes off, it will continue on a pre-planned flight. In case there is a need to send the plane to another location, a ground controller will be able to take over and fly the unmanned aerial vehicle to a different place.
A van also will be converted into a mobile command post for flight operations, Spencer said.
Moving the headquarters out of the area has been part of his plan, but the thefts have accelerated the process, he said. Saying he is looking for a small ranch in Cochise County near the border to lease or purchase, Spencer said being in a more rural area will give the organization extra security.
Spencer is accused of firing a rifle on his property on Friday night. He was arrested Saturday morning on three counts of disorderly conduct involving a weapon and a count each of endangerment and criminal damage.
Capas said Spencer told authorities that he heard noise outside his house Friday night and because of recent incidents he went out to investigate. She added he allegedly admitted to firing the rifle.
Spencer said he hopes to move the group's headquarters in a couple of months.
"I would like to lease some property. We may be here for three more years and then move to El Paso (Texas)," he said.
Such a move will mean the organization has been successful in Arizona by forcing the U.S. Border Patrol, which is not affiliated with the American Border Patrol, to do its job, he said.
The Border Patrol, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, has indicated it will be using more sensors and flying UAVs along the border, he added. Arizona's congressional delegation has requested that any UAV program for the U.S. Border Patrol be located at Fort Huachuca, where soldiers train on Army unmanned aerial vehicles.
Spencer said he knows those who oppose his organization's operations are concerned the group will be successful.
"If we force the (U.S.) Border Patrol to do its job they (those who oppose him) aren't going to be happy," he said.
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