'Minutemen' wage immigration battle at border
Arizona-Mexico line is new ground zero
By Sara A. Carter Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - Where the Sonoran desert rolls into the Arizona line, thousands of Minuteman volunteers will wage a political battle to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the porous border.
Unlike their historical counterparts of 1775, who pre-empted a surprise attack by British soldiers, the minutemen of 2005 are hoping to detour people from illegally crossing onto American soil.
The showdown begins Friday in Tombstone, Ariz.
More than 1,000 volunteers, ages 21 to 75 and from all 50 states, are expected to station themselves along 23 miles of U.S. border during a monthlong vigil. They plan to patrol the area known as the Tucson Sector in an attempt to discourage crossers and would-be terrorists from entering the United States. More than a dozen volunteers come from the Inland Valley.
Robin Hvidston of Upland, who will patrol during the first 10 days of the project, said her motives for joining the group are purely security, not racism. She said the project will put the Bush administration on notice that its plan to start a guest-worker program with Mexico is ludicrous.
"This is a message to the administration that the American people overwhelmingly want our borders secure," Hvidston said.
"Literally anyone from around the globe can come in and take residence as they see fit, including human smugglers, drug runners and terrorists."
Adding to 24-hour foot patrols, 30 pilots have signed up for air patrol. Six airplanes have been donated but only two will be allowed to patrol at any one time, Minuteman organizers said.
The organization was founded by Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran Jim Gilchrist of Orange County, who said volunteers will be prohibited from bringing long-range weapons or rifles. But law-enforcement volunteers and those appropriately licensed under Arizona law can carry concealed weapons.
Mainly, the volunteers will be armed with radios to contact Border Patrol agents when would-be crossers are spotted. They will be instructed to not interfere with the individuals except with humanitarian gestures, such as providing water to the desert trekkers, Minuteman leaders said.
The National Alliance for Human Rights, which calls itself both a Mexicano and a Latino organization, will station protesters on both sides of the border, said Armando Navarro, group coordinator and UC Riverside professor.
Some of the Minuteman volunteers are nothing more than militia organizers, Navarro said. He fears the patrols may incite violence and could "unleash a fury of further conflict."
The long-planned border patrols come after a busy week for Minuteman organizers, who underwent a top-level shake-up, according to the group's former security director, David Heppler.
Heppler said he was forced out without explanation late Tuesday and replaced by Chris Simcox, a co-founder of the project.
Heppler said he is concerned that Simcox, who is serving a two-year probation for knowingly carrying a concealed weapon into the Coronado National Forest in Arizona in January 2003, will be in charge of security operations for the group. According to court documents, Simcox lied to a federal park ranger about the weapon.
Neither Gilchrist nor Simcox could be reached for comment Wednesday. On Tuesday, just three days before volunteers were expected to start patrolling the border, federal officials said 500 more Border Patrol agents would be sent to the Tucson Sector by Sept. 30.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called Minutemen people," said Christiana Halsey, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection division.
Halsey said the added patrol agents, equipment and other resources are part of the second phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a program announced last March.
She said the initiative is designed not just to limit illegal immigration but to reduce smuggling and other criminal border activity, as well as immigrant deaths.
The agents to be assigned to Arizona will join the estimated 2,400 already patrolling the border.
Securing the nation's borders has been a contentious issue for decades, but especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Immigrants rights groups and those who push for an impregnable line have been at odds about the United States' 2,000-mile border with Mexico, which some say is a porous gateway for terrorists. Many activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are suspicious of Minuteman motives, saying the project is a cover for vigilantes.
Last week, Bush said guarding the borders should be left to border agents and not to "vigilante" groups such as the Minuteman Project. Mexico's President Vicente Fox is demanding that the United States keep a watchful eye on the extremists, as he calls them.
Exacerbating the situation, the project has received numerous threatening e-mails. The Mara Salvatruchas, a Los Angeles gang linked to terrorism, also has threatened the group, Heppler said.
According to T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union for the agents, the FBI arrested more than 130 Mara Salvatruchas gang members across the United States last month to minimize threats to Minuteman volunteers.
"We certainly appreciate the support of the volunteers," Bonner said. "We certainly sympathize with the frustration of the American people."
Many Border Patrol agents are confronted daily by drug smugglers, runners and a variety of other dangers, Bonner said. The volunteers may face the same, he added.
Navarro and Bonner agree that the volunteers' energy would be better spent lobbying in Washington, D.C., than in risking their safety in a hostile environment.
"People should let their elected officials know how frustrated they are," Bonner said. "If the U.S. capital was on the border of Mexico and Arizona, you better believe there would be more security." Cathy Cushman of Upland said she will work the first four days of the patrol. She fears for her safety, but it is the safety of the country that is at stake, she said.
"The message is, if you have enough manpower at the border, you can stop illegals from coming across," Cushman said. "How can the administration be worried about national security if the borders are wide open?"
http://www.dailybulletin.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,203%7E21481%7E2790731,00.html
Arizona-Mexico line is new ground zero
By Sara A. Carter Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - Where the Sonoran desert rolls into the Arizona line, thousands of Minuteman volunteers will wage a political battle to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the porous border.
Unlike their historical counterparts of 1775, who pre-empted a surprise attack by British soldiers, the minutemen of 2005 are hoping to detour people from illegally crossing onto American soil.
The showdown begins Friday in Tombstone, Ariz.
More than 1,000 volunteers, ages 21 to 75 and from all 50 states, are expected to station themselves along 23 miles of U.S. border during a monthlong vigil. They plan to patrol the area known as the Tucson Sector in an attempt to discourage crossers and would-be terrorists from entering the United States. More than a dozen volunteers come from the Inland Valley.
Robin Hvidston of Upland, who will patrol during the first 10 days of the project, said her motives for joining the group are purely security, not racism. She said the project will put the Bush administration on notice that its plan to start a guest-worker program with Mexico is ludicrous.
"This is a message to the administration that the American people overwhelmingly want our borders secure," Hvidston said.
"Literally anyone from around the globe can come in and take residence as they see fit, including human smugglers, drug runners and terrorists."
Adding to 24-hour foot patrols, 30 pilots have signed up for air patrol. Six airplanes have been donated but only two will be allowed to patrol at any one time, Minuteman organizers said.
The organization was founded by Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran Jim Gilchrist of Orange County, who said volunteers will be prohibited from bringing long-range weapons or rifles. But law-enforcement volunteers and those appropriately licensed under Arizona law can carry concealed weapons.
Mainly, the volunteers will be armed with radios to contact Border Patrol agents when would-be crossers are spotted. They will be instructed to not interfere with the individuals except with humanitarian gestures, such as providing water to the desert trekkers, Minuteman leaders said.
The National Alliance for Human Rights, which calls itself both a Mexicano and a Latino organization, will station protesters on both sides of the border, said Armando Navarro, group coordinator and UC Riverside professor.
Some of the Minuteman volunteers are nothing more than militia organizers, Navarro said. He fears the patrols may incite violence and could "unleash a fury of further conflict."
The long-planned border patrols come after a busy week for Minuteman organizers, who underwent a top-level shake-up, according to the group's former security director, David Heppler.
Heppler said he was forced out without explanation late Tuesday and replaced by Chris Simcox, a co-founder of the project.
Heppler said he is concerned that Simcox, who is serving a two-year probation for knowingly carrying a concealed weapon into the Coronado National Forest in Arizona in January 2003, will be in charge of security operations for the group. According to court documents, Simcox lied to a federal park ranger about the weapon.
Neither Gilchrist nor Simcox could be reached for comment Wednesday. On Tuesday, just three days before volunteers were expected to start patrolling the border, federal officials said 500 more Border Patrol agents would be sent to the Tucson Sector by Sept. 30.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with the so-called Minutemen people," said Christiana Halsey, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection division.
Halsey said the added patrol agents, equipment and other resources are part of the second phase of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, a program announced last March.
She said the initiative is designed not just to limit illegal immigration but to reduce smuggling and other criminal border activity, as well as immigrant deaths.
The agents to be assigned to Arizona will join the estimated 2,400 already patrolling the border.
Securing the nation's borders has been a contentious issue for decades, but especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Immigrants rights groups and those who push for an impregnable line have been at odds about the United States' 2,000-mile border with Mexico, which some say is a porous gateway for terrorists. Many activists, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are suspicious of Minuteman motives, saying the project is a cover for vigilantes.
Last week, Bush said guarding the borders should be left to border agents and not to "vigilante" groups such as the Minuteman Project. Mexico's President Vicente Fox is demanding that the United States keep a watchful eye on the extremists, as he calls them.
Exacerbating the situation, the project has received numerous threatening e-mails. The Mara Salvatruchas, a Los Angeles gang linked to terrorism, also has threatened the group, Heppler said.
According to T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union for the agents, the FBI arrested more than 130 Mara Salvatruchas gang members across the United States last month to minimize threats to Minuteman volunteers.
"We certainly appreciate the support of the volunteers," Bonner said. "We certainly sympathize with the frustration of the American people."
Many Border Patrol agents are confronted daily by drug smugglers, runners and a variety of other dangers, Bonner said. The volunteers may face the same, he added.
Navarro and Bonner agree that the volunteers' energy would be better spent lobbying in Washington, D.C., than in risking their safety in a hostile environment.
"People should let their elected officials know how frustrated they are," Bonner said. "If the U.S. capital was on the border of Mexico and Arizona, you better believe there would be more security." Cathy Cushman of Upland said she will work the first four days of the patrol. She fears for her safety, but it is the safety of the country that is at stake, she said.
"The message is, if you have enough manpower at the border, you can stop illegals from coming across," Cushman said. "How can the administration be worried about national security if the borders are wide open?"
http://www.dailybulletin.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,203%7E21481%7E2790731,00.html