Let me tell you folks the Minutemen are being harrassed b/c they are seen as extremists by our larger media, who doesn't go the border, doesn't know ant Minutemen, and doesn't want to know any Minutemen.
Hey, I don't know any Minutemen. So I don't judge either way. I don't live on the border, and haven't been near it in 7 years.
But I do know there is an illegal immigration problem in this country which effects employment, health care, and American culture in very destructive ways.
Bush calls the Minutemen vigilantes to cover up for the fact he doesn't want to be seen as some "extreme right winger" by the public. What he doesn't understand is that the liberal base see him as extreme anyway. And his voting base, who wants jobs, decent health care, and being safe from escaped Mexican criminals wants action now.
But, none of the establishment wants it. Why? Because Mexican immigration to the North is a safety valve. The more Mexicans move north, the less volatile the situation in Mexico is. And the less likely a Socialist Revolution in Mexico is. In the South, we had Chiapas, the people couldn't move so they fought.
People with empty stomachs always riot, and Mexico has that. It has a greater disparity in rich, middle class, and poor than America has had since the late 19th century, but no ability to get Mexicans upwardly mobile. We let the Mexicans violate our sovreignty b/c we don't want to deal with a revolution no matter how short lived to our south. We don't know how the new government would treat us. So, until we cowboy up, and accept that Mexicans have the same rights of self-determination we do, we'll have immigration problems.
Give the Canal back, help my wife's family, I am such a patriot.