Desertdog
Member
Now, let's go to phase 2. Don't you just love how almost all the stories you read in the media talks about "vigilantes" and "armed citizens?" Maybe they should say they are leaving, but still keep the observation post manned.
Minutemen wrap up month along Arizona border
May 1, 2005, 07:18 AM Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3283679
Volunteers recruited over the Internet to monitor illegal immigrant activity along a stretch of Arizona's border ended their monthlong efforts Saturday as they began, peering through binoculars along a dusty border road.
Members of the Minuteman Project hailed results as a huge success, and organizers plan to expand the mission to the other states bordering Mexico, as well as to parts of the Canadian border, in Idaho, North Dakota, Vermont and Michigan. They also plan to take on employers hiring illegal immigrants.
"This could not have been done without all of you. You did this together, you the people," co-organizer Chris Simcox told some 150 Minutemen and supporters at a last-day meeting outside a church at Palominas.
Simcox said the project has inspired millions of supporters across the country and reiterated a message he delivered to congressmen last week in Washington: The people will lead themselves "in an effort to secure our borders, to protect our families, our children, our neighbors and our way of life."
Founder Jim Gilchrist added that the Minutemen had gained the attention of Congress but warned that unless the work continues, "it's going to be viewed as just a monthlong dog and pony show."
The Minutemen said volunteers' calls to the Border Patrol resulted in 335 apprehensions of illegal immigrants through early Wednesday.
Organizers said 876 volunteers went through a four-hour training session and spent at least one eight-hour shift in the field through Friday. Their final eight-hour shift was to end as of 6 a.m. Sunday.
The Border Patrol keeps statistics on citizen calls and resulting apprehensions, but did not publicly break down whether calls came from project volunteers.
Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants the Border Patrol apprehended last year, more than half entered the country through the Mexico-Arizona border, and its porousness has become a focus of contention over possible intelligence reports that Al-Qaida terror operatives could enter the same way.
Critics, including Border Patrol officials, have said the Minutemen were little more than a nuisance and distraction that attracted significant attention from the media and from civil rights groups watching volunteers for possible rights violations.
But a majority of registered Arizona voters polled said they favored what the Minutemen did. Statewide, 57 percent of those interviewed by Arizona State University's journalism school said they supported the Minuteman Project, with 34 percent opposed and 9 percent saying they did not know or giving no opinion.
Trucker Mike Minatrea, 39, of New Braunfels, Texas, a ham radio operator who was stationed near Naco for a week with his wife, Kristi, a registered nurse, said the Minuteman Project "has told the rest of America what they can do to get something done" by protesting in a calm, orderly and productive fashion.
President Bush expressed his opposition to "vigilantes," and many people on the Mexican side of the border referred to the Minutemen as "migrant hunters."
"I'm proud to be a vigilante," Gilchrist added Saturday.
Federal authorities and immigration advocates feared from the outset that the volunteers would become embroiled in potentially violent confrontations with undocumented entrants, their smugglers or with drug operators.
Project organizers ordered volunteers not to detain any illegal border crossers they encountered, and no major incidents were reported.
After just more than two weeks, Gilchrist, a retired accountant from Southern California who coined the Minuteman Project name, announced that he was leaving early to begin preparing for a new phase to the project: identifying and organizing demonstrations against employers hiring illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, volunteers held their post. Many included retirees, military veterans and a number of present or former law enforcement officers, some of whom were armed were armed as they took up observation posts.
Some of the volunteers spent several weeks or even a month on the mostly stationary patrols along parts of a 23-mile stretch of border.
On Saturday, Ed Whitbred of Frederick, Md., wrapped up 17 days as a Minuteman supervisor along the border.
"I'm afraid we're on a slippery slope if we don't solve this (illegal immigration) problem," said Whitbred, a retired production manager for an aluminum company.
The American people have the will and desire to secure the border "but the government doesn't, because it's a political hot potato," he added.
Volunteer Fred Puckett, 60, of Cochise, Ariz., a disabled veteran, was pround of his participation.
He said: "I feel like I've been rejuvenated. I feel like I've accomplished a mission."
Minutemen wrap up month along Arizona border
May 1, 2005, 07:18 AM Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=3283679
Volunteers recruited over the Internet to monitor illegal immigrant activity along a stretch of Arizona's border ended their monthlong efforts Saturday as they began, peering through binoculars along a dusty border road.
Members of the Minuteman Project hailed results as a huge success, and organizers plan to expand the mission to the other states bordering Mexico, as well as to parts of the Canadian border, in Idaho, North Dakota, Vermont and Michigan. They also plan to take on employers hiring illegal immigrants.
"This could not have been done without all of you. You did this together, you the people," co-organizer Chris Simcox told some 150 Minutemen and supporters at a last-day meeting outside a church at Palominas.
Simcox said the project has inspired millions of supporters across the country and reiterated a message he delivered to congressmen last week in Washington: The people will lead themselves "in an effort to secure our borders, to protect our families, our children, our neighbors and our way of life."
Founder Jim Gilchrist added that the Minutemen had gained the attention of Congress but warned that unless the work continues, "it's going to be viewed as just a monthlong dog and pony show."
The Minutemen said volunteers' calls to the Border Patrol resulted in 335 apprehensions of illegal immigrants through early Wednesday.
Organizers said 876 volunteers went through a four-hour training session and spent at least one eight-hour shift in the field through Friday. Their final eight-hour shift was to end as of 6 a.m. Sunday.
The Border Patrol keeps statistics on citizen calls and resulting apprehensions, but did not publicly break down whether calls came from project volunteers.
Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants the Border Patrol apprehended last year, more than half entered the country through the Mexico-Arizona border, and its porousness has become a focus of contention over possible intelligence reports that Al-Qaida terror operatives could enter the same way.
Critics, including Border Patrol officials, have said the Minutemen were little more than a nuisance and distraction that attracted significant attention from the media and from civil rights groups watching volunteers for possible rights violations.
But a majority of registered Arizona voters polled said they favored what the Minutemen did. Statewide, 57 percent of those interviewed by Arizona State University's journalism school said they supported the Minuteman Project, with 34 percent opposed and 9 percent saying they did not know or giving no opinion.
Trucker Mike Minatrea, 39, of New Braunfels, Texas, a ham radio operator who was stationed near Naco for a week with his wife, Kristi, a registered nurse, said the Minuteman Project "has told the rest of America what they can do to get something done" by protesting in a calm, orderly and productive fashion.
President Bush expressed his opposition to "vigilantes," and many people on the Mexican side of the border referred to the Minutemen as "migrant hunters."
"I'm proud to be a vigilante," Gilchrist added Saturday.
Federal authorities and immigration advocates feared from the outset that the volunteers would become embroiled in potentially violent confrontations with undocumented entrants, their smugglers or with drug operators.
Project organizers ordered volunteers not to detain any illegal border crossers they encountered, and no major incidents were reported.
After just more than two weeks, Gilchrist, a retired accountant from Southern California who coined the Minuteman Project name, announced that he was leaving early to begin preparing for a new phase to the project: identifying and organizing demonstrations against employers hiring illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, volunteers held their post. Many included retirees, military veterans and a number of present or former law enforcement officers, some of whom were armed were armed as they took up observation posts.
Some of the volunteers spent several weeks or even a month on the mostly stationary patrols along parts of a 23-mile stretch of border.
On Saturday, Ed Whitbred of Frederick, Md., wrapped up 17 days as a Minuteman supervisor along the border.
"I'm afraid we're on a slippery slope if we don't solve this (illegal immigration) problem," said Whitbred, a retired production manager for an aluminum company.
The American people have the will and desire to secure the border "but the government doesn't, because it's a political hot potato," he added.
Volunteer Fred Puckett, 60, of Cochise, Ariz., a disabled veteran, was pround of his participation.
He said: "I feel like I've been rejuvenated. I feel like I've accomplished a mission."
