Jim Diver
Member
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050301-065034-3887r.htm
Mexico City, Mexico, Mar. 1 (UPI) -- With the peak season for illegal border crossings looming in the next few months, both Mexico and the United States are gearing up for thousands of inevitable confrontations between Mexicans who will attempt the treacherous journey through the Arizona desert and the American border patrol and immigration authorities on the other side.
While U.S. border states have a long history of local citizen groups engaging in "law enforcement" in the form of scouting for and reporting surreptitious border crossers, this year a large and highly organized effort has appeared called the Minuteman Project, fueling new concerns from the Mexican government for the human rights of its citizens.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Monday that the Mexican government will take legal action against any vigilante militia groups at the U.S.-Mexico border who harm or violate the rights of undocumented migrants crossing into the United States.
"We are going to attack by all legal means," Derbez told reporters at a news conference. "We are presenting the reasons why we consider this action to be incorrect and illegal from the point of view not only of our government but also under U.S. law."
Derbez added that he had asked a group of U.S. lawyers in Los Angeles to put together a legal strategy to confront the actions of Minuteman Project volunteers.
The Minuteman Project is composed of volunteers who say they will be gathering on April 1 in Tombstone, Ariz., near the border, to assemble and speak against the "illegal alien invasion crisis." Afterwards, the volunteers will camp out along the border and assist border law enforcement officials for the entire month of April in catching illegal border crossers, according to Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist.
"The men and women volunteering for this mission are those who are willing to sacrifice their time ... while their nation is devoured and plundered by the menace of tens of millions of invading illegal aliens," the Minuteman Project Web site reads.
So far, Gilchrist said he had received more than 800 applications from U.S. citizens who wanted to volunteer with the project.
"People have portrayed us as being violent and wanting to shoot and kill illegal aliens, but that's just not true," Gilchrist told United Press International in a telephone interview from Aliso Viejo, Calif. "We will not be carrying rifles, although Arizona law allows people to carry arms if they want to -- so some people who join us may choose to carry them."
Gilchrist said that most importantly, the volunteers will be exercising their right to speak freely under the First Amendment about the crisis at the border and supporting local law enforcement officials with observing and reporting illegal activity.
"It's no different from seeing a burglar in your neighbor's house and calling the sheriff," Gilchrist said.
Despite Gilchrist's insistence that the Minuteman Project is not a violent operation, Derbez in his Monday statement characterized the group as "hunters" of Mexican citizens. And Derbez told reporters the issue of the militia groups will be handled directly with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she meets March 10 with Derbez in Mexico City.
In response to the prospect of legal action taken against the Minuteman Project, Gilchrist said, "Mexico should mind its own business, but instead it's trying to encourage violence."
Since border policies were implemented in the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 3,000 migrants have lost their lives on the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition.
April is typically the month when migrants begin to cross the Arizona desert in large numbers, a migration pattern that tends to run through September even as temperatures in the desert become scorching.
Mexico City, Mexico, Mar. 1 (UPI) -- With the peak season for illegal border crossings looming in the next few months, both Mexico and the United States are gearing up for thousands of inevitable confrontations between Mexicans who will attempt the treacherous journey through the Arizona desert and the American border patrol and immigration authorities on the other side.
While U.S. border states have a long history of local citizen groups engaging in "law enforcement" in the form of scouting for and reporting surreptitious border crossers, this year a large and highly organized effort has appeared called the Minuteman Project, fueling new concerns from the Mexican government for the human rights of its citizens.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Monday that the Mexican government will take legal action against any vigilante militia groups at the U.S.-Mexico border who harm or violate the rights of undocumented migrants crossing into the United States.
"We are going to attack by all legal means," Derbez told reporters at a news conference. "We are presenting the reasons why we consider this action to be incorrect and illegal from the point of view not only of our government but also under U.S. law."
Derbez added that he had asked a group of U.S. lawyers in Los Angeles to put together a legal strategy to confront the actions of Minuteman Project volunteers.
The Minuteman Project is composed of volunteers who say they will be gathering on April 1 in Tombstone, Ariz., near the border, to assemble and speak against the "illegal alien invasion crisis." Afterwards, the volunteers will camp out along the border and assist border law enforcement officials for the entire month of April in catching illegal border crossers, according to Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist.
"The men and women volunteering for this mission are those who are willing to sacrifice their time ... while their nation is devoured and plundered by the menace of tens of millions of invading illegal aliens," the Minuteman Project Web site reads.
So far, Gilchrist said he had received more than 800 applications from U.S. citizens who wanted to volunteer with the project.
"People have portrayed us as being violent and wanting to shoot and kill illegal aliens, but that's just not true," Gilchrist told United Press International in a telephone interview from Aliso Viejo, Calif. "We will not be carrying rifles, although Arizona law allows people to carry arms if they want to -- so some people who join us may choose to carry them."
Gilchrist said that most importantly, the volunteers will be exercising their right to speak freely under the First Amendment about the crisis at the border and supporting local law enforcement officials with observing and reporting illegal activity.
"It's no different from seeing a burglar in your neighbor's house and calling the sheriff," Gilchrist said.
Despite Gilchrist's insistence that the Minuteman Project is not a violent operation, Derbez in his Monday statement characterized the group as "hunters" of Mexican citizens. And Derbez told reporters the issue of the militia groups will be handled directly with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she meets March 10 with Derbez in Mexico City.
In response to the prospect of legal action taken against the Minuteman Project, Gilchrist said, "Mexico should mind its own business, but instead it's trying to encourage violence."
Since border policies were implemented in the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 3,000 migrants have lost their lives on the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition.
April is typically the month when migrants begin to cross the Arizona desert in large numbers, a migration pattern that tends to run through September even as temperatures in the desert become scorching.
:banghead:
