Posted on 11/01/2007 12:12:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Retired Kansas policeman Ed Hayes lives a quiet life with his wife and pet poodles in a spacious suburban home near Kansas City, far from the main front line over illegal immigration along the U.S. border with Mexico.
But over the last 18 months the 66-year-old grandfather has been drawn into the battle nonetheless, becoming active on a second front.
He has joined many individuals, who, with state and municipal leaders, have given up waiting for federal action and are working to control illegal immigration themselves.
The issue has become a priority not only for activists like Hayes but also for state and local leaders around the United States who say illegal immigration limits job opportunities for Americans and severely strains community resources.
Hayes is a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), a national organization that is one of several groups that have formed, including one in Oklahoma called Outraged Patriots.
"It's not about skin color, it's about breaking the law," said Hayes, who oversees Kansas and Missouri chapters of the MCDC.
Hayes hasn't yet engaged in a Minuteman border patrol, in which armed members actually search along the U.S.-Mexican border for those trying to cross illegally.
His efforts are generally restricted to joining with other like-minded Midwesterners in picketing construction sites employing undocumented workers or handing out pamphlets at carnivals and gun shows.
CONTROVERSIAL
The Minuteman group has a controversial reputation. Critics see it as a sometimes violent, racist organization of would-be vigilantes and some classify it as a hate group. But supporters say the group is non-violent and only aims to enforce the law.
"We demand border security, enforce our immigration laws, and make sure you hold people who hire illegal immigrants accountable," said MCDC national executive director Al Garza.
Minuteman membership has been growing nationally recently, with hundreds of new members added in the last three months, according to Garza.
A new chapter is starting in Colorado with a new-member meeting November 17, and the group now has some form of representation in nearly every state with a total of more than 9,000 members, Garza said.
Kansas City parks and recreation board member Frances Semler said she joined the MCDC last year because she was so frustrated with a lack of action by Congress and an increasing strain on community resources. Her membership has cost the city convention business and some have called for her dismissal.
Still, MCDC members say they see their fight against illegal immigration becoming more mainstream as states and municipalities around the country pass laws to curb illegal immigration.
Forty-three states enacted 182 immigration-related laws this year, "an unprecedented level of activity," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"This is not a political thing," said Hayes. "It's not a Democrat or a Republican thing. It's an American thing."
Yep.
The MinuteMan group has the wrong strategy. They need to hire lawyers and go after employers with RICO lawsuits. They could MAKE MONEY at the same time as solving this social problem.
Here’s my standard post. We can do something about this.
RICO —Citizen Recourse
Private persons and entities may initiate civil suits to obtain injunctions and treble damages against enterprises that conspire to or actually violate federal alien smuggling, harboring, or document fraud statutes, under the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO). The pattern of racketeering activity is defined as commission of two or more of the listed crimes. A RICO enterprise can be any individual legal entity, or a group of individuals who are not a legal entity but are associated in fact, and can include nonprofit associations.
Here’s what I’ve been pushing: it’s time to file Racketeering, Influencing, and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuits.
RICO lawyers could turn it around in a few years and MAKE MONEY at the same time. I’m surprised they haven’t done it already.
In the absence of enforcement, we can get the word out in the meantime that there is money to be made in filing RICO lawsuits against employers who hire illegal aliens.
Employers would have no trouble shutting down the border if they could get sued by someone under the RICO statutes for hiring these people in the first place. The next time an illegal alien kills someone in a drunk driving accident or somesuch thing, I’m going to point out that the victim’s family might be able to seek compensation from the employer under these statutes in the hopes that it would catch on. If this did catch on, would see such a swift backlash against illegal immigration that no employer would go near these people and they’ll all simply want to go back home.
One would hope they are armed for Mexican army incursions.
Kevmo:
What would stop you and I from hiring a law firm and doing this? I already have PrePaid Legal, giving me access to a large firm here.
I think what would stop you or me would be that we have to show damages to ourselves somehow.
Other than that, I think it’s whether or not there’s ink in the pen when you sign whatever the law firm hands you.
Lawyers are skilled at solving the question of “standing”....
Nothing to stop you from filing suit [See: 18 USC Sec 1964(b)]if you are “... injured in [your] business or property...”. However, you will have to prove YOUR damages unless you are able to have the case certified as a ‘class action’.
"The Civil False Claims Act, also known as Lincoln's Law, the Informer's Act, or the Qui Tam Statute, 31 U.S.C. Section 3729 et seq., allows a private person to sue a person or company who is knowingly submitting false bills to the federal government. The Act also protects qui tam plaintiffs who are "demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed or in any other manner discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment" for acts done in furtherance of filing a claim under the Act.."
"This provision allows reinstatement, double back pay, interest on the back pay, plus special damages including litigation costs and reasonable attorneys' fees."
"More than 2,400 qui tam suits have been filed since 1986, when the statute was strengthened to make it easier and more rewarding for private citizens to sue. The government has recovered over $2 billion as a result of the suits, of which almost $340 million has been paid to relators/whistleblowers."
"If the qui tam suit alleging false billings is successful, the whistleblower (known as a "relator") will also be entitled to 15-30% of the government's total recovery, which includes damages for the false bills, tripled, plus civil penalties of from $5,000 to $10,000 per false claim. To recover this bounty, the relator must have complied with the complex and unusual statutory requirements, however. Merely providing information to a hotline will not entitle the relator to a recovery under the False Claims Act." (from a website)
Precisely why the are NOT WANTED down here on the border where I live. We already had a “situation” when the Marines accidently shot one of our locals when they were down here to supposedly stop drug dealers. Killing an 18 year old Eagle Scout did not go well with anyone — regardless of their politics or ethnicity. The last thing we need are armed amateurs who know nothing of our border culture, and who often assume anyone speaking Spanish is a “Mexican” — or assumes people crossing the border are either “illegal” ... or even Mexican citizens (a lot of U.S. citizens live on the Mexican side for one reason or another).
ping
Any Minutemen incidents?
In order to protect your fellow *border residents* you have no problem permitting illegal aliens to tread across your neighborhood so that they can spread out across America and later commit crimes that result in the death of other Americans.
I am sorry that you chose to live in the border region but in my mind that is the front lines where the battle should be taking place.
Minutemen....doing the enforcement our federal government won’t do.
Would YOU be willing to man a picket line? Without a gun, of course.
btt
We didn’t wait for the “armed amateurs,” as you call them, We started our own border watch group.
The border culture here was a culture of lawlessness, something had to be done. In case you hadn’t noticed the U.S. citizens, and Mexican citizens with green cards, or visitor visas, cross at the ports, they don’t sneak across in remote areas. We’ve spent our time in the remote areas, the IAs crossing there weren’t coming here legally. For the record they don’t all speak Spanish, I’ve detained a couple that didn’t understand Spanish, or English.
Like that scene at the beginning of "Men in Black?" :^)
It sounds like you have encountered OTMs on the border, most likely from Asia or the Middle East.
reference ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.