Posted on 08/18/2003 6:14:36 AM PDT by AZ GRAMMY
Citizens group vows to patrol border
By Louie Villalobos Aug 17, 2003
By the first of October, Yuma County's border with Mexico will be the scene of armed, organized citizen patrols whose goal will be to assist U.S. Border Patrol agents in apprehending illegal immigrants, the leader of a Tombstone-based patrol group told The Sun on Friday.
Chris Simcox, president of the Civil Homeland Defense, said he plans to be in Yuma sometime in the next two weeks to meet with a group of approximately 12 Yuma County residents who have expressed interest in being a part of a citizens patrol group. He is also the owner and publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed, a weekly newspaper in Tombstone.
"We want to help (the Border Patrol) get the job done until our government has the will to give them the manpower and the equipment that they need to do the job," Simcox said.
Simcox's group has been patrolling the Tucson border area for almost one year now and he said they have turned over more than 1,500 illegal immigrants to Tucson agents without any major incidents.
The move to Yuma County is a direct result of the arrest of Matthew Hoffman and Alexander Dumas by the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, Simcox said. The men are accused of unlawfully detaining a group of six illegal immigrants — which consisted of two women, three children and their 16-year-old smuggler — at gunpoint July 31 in Gadsden.
Both remain in custody on charges of aggravated assault and unlawful imprisonment. The Yuma County Attorney's office said it couldn't ethically or legally provide information on the case, but family members believe both men were indicted Thursday.
Simcox, 41, said he began getting calls from Yuma and Phoenix, from where a group of 39 people are also asking for training, immediately following Hoffman's and Dumas' arrest.
"These guys are going to be called heroes in this movement," he said. "I think it's unfortunate that they did overstep the boundaries, but they didn't harm anybody."
Simcox said he anticipates conducting local classes demonstrating the proper way to deal with illegal immigrants, the correct way to use firearms and first-aid skills. He said every member of the group will carry weapons and a concealed weapons permit.
He said his group rarely physically encounters illegal immigrants, choosing instead to report them to Border Patrol agents and follow them until agents arrive. What Hoffman and Dumas are accused of doing is the wrong way, he said.
"We don't need to go in there dressed as Rambos carrying rifles," he said. "That's not going to get the job done."
Though Simcox said the basic goal of the patrol groups is to help Border Patrol agents do their job, Yuma sector Border Patrol Chief Michael Nicley said Simcox's brand of help isn't welcomed.
Having a group of armed citizens patrolling the border just adds to the already difficult job agents have, he said.
"If you've got people that are untrained, with no enforcement authority, no property ownership issues, that are running around out there with guns and taking people into custody, that's a very dynamic and hazardous environment," Nicley said. "But our officers will be prepared to deal with that."
Nicley said though several residents have expressed concern over the number of illegal immigrants that cross illegally every day through Yuma County, he doesn't believe those residents want patrol groups adding to the traffic. Instead, he said, residents should continue to call agents when illegal activity is witnessed and stay away from the area.
Sharing in Nicley's concern is U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., who was in Yuma on Saturday to meet with various community groups. Grijalva said the patrol groups will only make the border area in Yuma more dangerous for the agents, the illegal immigrants and residents.
"Frankly, they are as much a danger to the community as are the smugglers," he said. "Because they are armed and taking the law into their own hands."
Grijalva said he will ask the federal government to monitor any groups that form in Yuma as it has the Tucson groups.
Simcox said he would welcome any investigation and said he videotapes every patrol they go on specifically to combat outside investigations.
He said he expects the Yuma group to be operational by October and will patrol both public and federal lands. Simcox said nothing the local or state government can do will deter the Yuma patrols.
"So what if we are stopping people?" he said. "We are not harming people."
--- Louie Villalobos can be reached at lvillalobos@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
Sure, Raul, if your "community" is a bunch of thieving illegal Mexicans!
The criticism of the citizen brigade is a very transparent pretext. Leftists see a political powerhouse with an increase in illegal immigration, simple as that, and they're going to move to stop anything that curbs illegal immigration.
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