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Posted on 03/31/2005 8:47:13 PM PST by doug from upland
Armed Civilians Converge Upon Mexican Border
Friday, April 01, 2005
PHOTOS VIDEO
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STORIES
•Armed Civilians to Patrol Mexican Border•DHS to Beef Up Border Patrol•Arizona Moves to House Prisoners in Mexico•Civilian 'Minutemen' to Help Patrol Border•Border States Grapple With Alien Criminals•Illegal Alien Influx May Compromise Security•House Approves Immigration Bill•House May Make Asylum Policy Harsher
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. — They call themselves patriots, but critics call them everything from gun-toting rednecks to racists.
Hundreds of people were converging on Arizona's Mexican border Friday to ready for a month-long campaign to urge federal lawmakers to do more to stem illegal immigration (search).
The events have been organized by the Minuteman Project (search), a group that organizes volunteer civilian patrols on the Arizona/Mexico border to report illegal immigrant crossings to the U.S. Border Patrol (search).
Participants on Friday were rallying in Tombstone, Ariz., and taking part in an orientation.
Rallies and protests were planned throughout the weekend to call for stricter border enforcement.
About 1,200 people, mainly from the Southwest, were expected to attend events including stationing people along the border 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next 30 days in a type of massive neighborhood-watch program.
The protesters say they're fed up with Washington's inability and/or reluctance to clamp down on illegal immigration, and they're upset with Mexico for encouraging its citizens to break U.S. laws and exporting its unemployment problems.
Mexico HAS an Army??
Amen brother!
Hey, anybody here old enough to remember the Frito Bandito pencil erasers? Geez, try to market sonthin like that now and Vincente Fox will take you to the World Court.
Minuteman not yet is ` cazado` to some illegal one
They have only made 18 calls to report undocumented people
Natalia Go'mez Quintero/Enviada
The Universal One
Monday 04 of April of 2005
Douglas, Arizona. Until Minuteman it had not hunted yesterday to any migrante and they had only made 18 calls telephone (from the 31 of March to the date) to report groups of undocumented people who have tried to cross the border by Douglas and Naco.
The Border Patrol did not need the lengthy number of product of these calls, but it informed that from the 1 of April to they had stopped yesterday around 120 Mexicans. Nevertheless, Chris Simcox, one of the leaders of the Minuteman, assured that the calls that have done caused the halting of 118 already.
In agreement with official information provided by the Border Patrol to the consulate of Mexico in Douglas, the Minuteman has been no halting by border watchmen among them.
Without great technology, but some with arms to protect itself of aggressions, groups of five people of Minuteman watch a distance of two kilometers throughout the border and carry cellular telephones to communicate to a gratuitous number of the Border Patrol to report the groups of undocumented people.
The watchmen are to only meters of the "line" and this has put on the alert as much to Mexican and American authorities, that maintain one narrow communication.
In as much, migrantes are frustrated when not being able to cross towards the United States. Alejandra did not reach to step on American territory. The Border Patrol found it before the Minuteman and returned it to Mexico. It has five months of pregnancy and four children who at the moment live in Chicago. His husband Ramiro González will be taken before a Federal Court by a misdemeanor.
Abstracted by the preoccupation of its husband, Alejandra at the moment does not know if it will return to Chicago to side of his children but it recognizes, ashamed, that has not heard speak to the members of Minuteman.
And it is that the Border Patrol is trying at all costs to get first a to stop to the migrantes before the Minuteman, that in spite of seeing announced that they told on 16 airplanes to patrol the zone until the moment has not shown nor occupied the airships.
This tactics, indicate, is for avoiding possible confrontations.
On the other hand, the Border Patrol informed that it will begin to construct this week in the city of Naco, Arizona, additional sections of steel fences throughout the border with the Mexican state of Sonant.
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