THE NATION Minutemen Prepare
to Lay Down the Law
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the Immigration Page
Civilian border patrols rally troops in
Arizona. And they're making their presence known.
April 2, 2005
By David Kelly, Times Staff WriterTOMBSTONE, Ariz. — They came by the hundreds Friday, men and women from across the nation, hearts brimming with righteous anger, determined to staunch the flow of illegal immigration.
Some wore pistols slung low on their hips. Others walked the dusty streets in leather cowboy hats, wearing buttons that read: "Undocumented Border Patrol Agent." There were pilots, window washers, private investigators and exterminators.These are the new Minutemen. And for the next month, they will patrol 23 miles of desert here in southeast Arizona, the busiest corridor for illegal immigrants in the nation with about 500,000 arrests last year.
"We have an illegal invasion of our country going on now that is affecting our schools, our healthcare system and our society in general," said volunteer Joe McCutchen, 73, of Fort Smith, Ark. "No society can sustain this."
The Minutemen's presence here has set off protests from immigrant-rights groups and drew a handful of counter-demonstrators Friday. The Mexican government has increased its troop strength along the border, and President Vicente Fox has called on the American government to protect illegal immigrants coming across the desert.
President Bush outraged many of the volunteers here by calling them vigilantes. They responded by calling Bush the co-president of Mexico and a leader who has failed his responsibility to secure the country's borders.
At a rally Friday in an airy building not far from the infamous OK Corral, politicians and activists lambasted Bush and vowed not to be intimidated.
"Since when did actually enforcing the laws of the land become a radical idea?" asked Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). "If you don't know who is coming across your borders and for what purpose, then you cannot call yourself a nation."
The 200 or so volunteers roared their approval, a few shouting: "Tancredo for president!"
Conservative political pundit Bay Buchanan chipped in. "Mr. President, you have failed us, you have failed our children, you have failed those communities suffering from drugs coming across the border," she said. "Mr. President, you have failed America!"
Outside the hall, demonstrators pounded pots and pans with spoons, trying to drown out the rally. There were dancers in traditional Aztec dress carrying signs calling the Minutemen racists. Monitors in red and white shirts from the American Civil Liberties Union have organized themselves into groups that will follow the civilian patrols that officially begin Monday.
"We will stay about 50 to 100 yards behind them to deter the use of violence and document any illegal activity," said Ray Ybarra of the Arizona ACLU.
The number of Minutemen who assembled here Friday was not as great as had been expected. James Gilchrist, the Orange County activist who organized the event, had predicted at least 1,000 would show up.
"They will be coming throughout the month, and not all on the first day," he said.
Gilchrist emphasized to his troops that no one was authorized to touch or detain any illegal immigrant, but that they should report them to the Border Patrol — which has said it doesn't want the help. "The rules of engagement are that there is no engagement," Gilchrist said.
Gilchrist, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired accountant from Aliso Viejo, said that white supremacist groups such as the Aryan Nations, which urged people to volunteer for the Minutemen, were not welcome.
"I have found in the last three months that hate groups come in all colors," Gilchrist said, explaining he had been threatened by a Latino gang and various individuals. "I have had … probably 12 actual death threats."
Gilchrist said the fact that the U.S. government announced this week the addition of 500 border patrol agents here showed that his effort was already paying off.
"We know we are not a panacea, that we are not going to change this all in 30 days," he said. "But we have already accomplished our goal a hundred-fold in getting the media out here and getting the message out."
The number of media members here Friday to cover the volunteer border patrols nearly outnumbered the Minutemen. Reporters from around the world descended on Tombstone, population 4,800. Along with journalists came some filmmakers working on documentaries about the U.S.-Mexican border.
Chris Simcox, editor of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper and a key organizer of the event, warned participants that they would be under enormous scrutiny. "The media has created this frenzy and this monster," he said. "They are looking for Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster — the vigilante. But they aren't going to find it. The media will be watching everything we do. We are going to be held accountable to the letter of the law. You must abide by every law or you will not succeed."
The Minutemen don't fit neatly into any stereotype. Some wore fatigues and carried military-issue Meals Ready to Eat. Others resembled suburbanites out for a weekend adventure. A few toted handguns.
Buddy Watson, a former prison guard, carried a .40-caliber pistol. He said he had reread the Constitution before coming here from Bentonville, Ark., to make sure he didn't violate anybody's rights.
"We have been threatened, so I am carrying a gun," he said. "I have no intention of having to use it."
Gilchrist said the Minutemen had been threatened by MS-13, a Central American street gang.
Bill Davis, 66, who kills coyotes for a living, worried about the number of guns he saw.
"The ACLU is praying … that someone gets wacky out here," the Minuteman volunteer said. "They hope some loose cannon lets the air out of somebody. And I see people walking around here with guns strapped on when there is no need for it."
Davis expects to be leading an eight-person patrol in the desert in the days ahead, yet he has some trepidation.
He spends every day tracking animals in the barren landscape here. He routinely comes across illegal immigrants and calls in the Border Patrol.
"I go out every day of the year, but some of these guys are businessmen," he said. "They shouldn't be carrying a box of rocks, let alone a gun."
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times
'Heroes' poised for vigil on border
The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.comBy Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published April 2, 2005TOMBSTONE, Ariz. -- More than 100 Minuteman Project volunteers clapped, shouted, waived American flags and stomped their feet during an old-fashioned revival-style meeting yesterday called to denounce President Bush and formally kickoff a 30-day blockade of the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.
"I'm proud of every single one of you," Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, told the cheering crowd inside the city's 120-year-old community center, once frequented by Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.
"You are not vigilantes. You are heroes," said Mr. Tancredo, founding chairman of Team America, a political action committee dedicated to electing legislators sensitive to defending U.S. borders and protecting American jobs.
Bay Buchanan, chairwoman of Team America and sister of former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, received a standing ovation as she berated Mr. Bush for failing "our country."
"You have failed us, and you have failed our children, by continuing to let criminals and drugs come across this border," she said.
The rally, described as an orientation meeting, capped off a day of registration for the Minuteman volunteers, who will begin patrols of the border south of here on Monday to protest the lax immigration-enforcement policies of the administration and Congress.
The daylong event saw counterprotesters line the street outside the hall, American Indians dancing in native custom to a steady drumbeat and "Lady Liberty" twirling through one lane of the city's main street -- all under the watchful eye of dozens of Arizona police, rangers and sheriff's deputies.
Members of the press, many of them from Mexico, outnumbered the volunteers, with satellite trucks lining the street leading to Big Nose Kate's Saloon. "Legal observers" hired by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also patrolled outside the hall.
The volunteers will gather again today and tomorrow for rallies at the U.S. Border Patrol stations in Naco and Douglas, where -- according to Minuteman organizer James T. Gilchrist -- "we will show our support for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect our country despite a lack of manpower and resources."
The weekend rallies are a prelude to a monthlong border protest by more than 1,000 Minuteman volunteers that formally begins Monday and will focus on a 20-mile stretch of the San Pedro River Valley west of Naco and a remote border area west of Douglas.
The two regions have become favorite corridors for illegal aliens headed into the United States. Last year, Border Patrol agents in the Tucson sector, which includes Naco and Douglas, accounted for more than 40 percent of the 1.15 million illegal aliens apprehended nationwide.
The volunteers, many of whom will camp out in recreational vehicles and tents along the border, registered here yesterday and received their assignments, including guidelines prohibiting them from confronting illegal aliens they encounter on the border.
"We will not tolerate any confrontations by our members," Mr. Gilchrist, a retired California certified public accountant and a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, told The Washington Times. "This protest is about the rule of law, and there will be no exceptions."
Several civil and human rights organizations have hired legal observers and teams of lawyers ready to file lawsuits against the volunteers if the illegal aliens' rights are abused.
But Mr. Gilchrist, during an interview at his border command post, said he expects that the volunteers are more likely to be the ones abused and has asked the FBI in Phoenix to ensure that their right to demonstrate is protected.
In a letter to the FBI, Mr. Gilchrist said efforts by the volunteers to conduct a peaceful political protest and rally have been threatened by the counterprotesters, adding that the ACLU has a "witch-hunt mentality."
FBI officials this week said they are committed to ensuring that no laws are violated during the border vigil, by either the Minuteman volunteers or those opposed to them.
The ACLU in Arizona could not be reached for comment.
Yesterday's registration saw numerous glitches, with Minuteman volunteers being asked to file new registration forms after a computer failure.Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc.
