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Couple to vacation with Minutemen

'Minutemen'
HEIDI MURRIN/tribune-Review


By Brandon Keat
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 9, 2005


Bill and Jane Riley will vacation in the unlikely destination of Nogales, whiling away their days perched in lawnchairs beneath the Arizona sun, scanning the horizon for Mexicans crossing the border.
The Baldwin Borough couple, both in their 70s, don't expect any trouble. But they'll both be packing pistols just in case.

More than 4,000 volunteers from across the country -- the Rileys among them -- are fanning out along America's borders this month under the auspices of a passion-stirring movement known as the Minuteman project.

Formed a year ago, the Minutemen in April conducted an intense surveillance of the Mexican border they called a "muster," seeking to stem what it calls a "human flood." This month is the group's second such operation.





President Bush has called the Minutemen vigilantes. Some civil rights activists are harsher, labeling them racists.

The Minutemen say they are patriots battling to safeguard the country from illegal immigration's woes: overburdened welfare and medical systems, courts clogged with migrant cases and lower wages and lost jobs for native workers.

Worst of all, Bill Riley says, is the cross-border flow of drugs, the criminals who traffic in them and the entry of people aiming specifically to harm America.

"Our biggest danger is them bringing terrorists through there," said Riley, 73. "If you can bring a ton of dope in, you can sure bring a dirty bomb in."

Such fears, combined with the conviction that U.S. officials aren't doing enough to tackle the problem, have driven Riley to action.

"I e-mail our politicians. I call them on the phone," the retired steelworker and former borough councilman said. "Not one of them will ever acknowledge that we have a problem on the border."

Riley and his wife, Jane, 71, will leave for the border Tuesday, paying for the $2,000 trip out of their own pockets and bringing along their own binoculars, spotting scopes and a radio to contact border agents. They expect to spend a week or two in Nogales, a key outpost in the illegal immigration battle.

The town sits in what customs officials refer to as the "Tucson sector," a 261-mile patch of the Sonora Desert that is a focal point both for Mexicans looking for a way in and authorities trying to stop them.

In the past year, more than 430,000 people have been arrested trying to cross into America in the Tucson sector. That accounts for nearly 40 percent of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants apprehended nationwide last year.

Exactly how many people make it through is unknown, but a report last month shows the problem is real: Illegal immigrants now outnumber foreigners moving to the United States legally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. More than 8 million immigrants live in the United States, federal statistics say.

Customs officials acknowledge the crisis, but say volunteer groups such as the Minutemen can at times cost them resources.

"If we have to monitor the actions of volunteers, it diverts time and energy from our primary work of securing the border," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Todd Fraser.

The Minutemen insist they make a difference. Nearly 1,000 volunteers joined the group's first border watch last spring, which led to the arrest of about 400 illegal immigrants, said spokeswoman Connie Hair. Further, border crossers shy away from areas patrolled by Minutemen, she said.

Perhaps more important, the group serves as a rallying point for a growing number of Americans worried about illegal immigration.

"This is an issue -- securing the borders -- it's an issue that has huge support and people that are willing to go out to the borders and participate in this," Hair said. "It has been pretty amazing."

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that advocate for migrant workers and Latinos have their own concerns about "vigilante" groups watching the border, including the Minutemen.

"We see there is a potential for violence because the vigilantes -- some of them associated with the Minutemen, some of them acting independently -- encourage their members to carry weapons, and they do," said Mariana Bustamante, education coordinator for the Immigrants' Rights Project at the ACLU. "That's definitely something that we're very concerned about."

The Minutemen advise volunteers to have no contact with border crossers -- except to offer them first aid -- but to call authorities instead. Volunteers also are told to keep quiet and pick up their own garbage when they leave.

Bill Riley's close friend, Matt Jury, of Bethel Park worries about the harsh weather at the border -- temperatures there can soar well into the 100s by day and then plunge to the 40s by night -- but not about potential confrontations.

"Mr. Riley, he can protect himself," Jury said. "He's excellent at the (shooting) range."

A Korean War veteran and Hill District native, Riley's vigor belies his age. He skis, hikes and kayaks.

Family pictures on the walls of his home share space with a framed copy of the Constitution, antique swords and an illustration of a blue-uniformed Revolutionary War Minuteman. Also prominently displayed are photos of Riley's Irish forefathers, including his grandfather, a Pittsburgh police detective.

His ancestors were criticized for speaking Gaelic and accused of some of the same things as illegal immigrants -- such as taking jobs from native-born Americans and driving down wages, Riley said.

"They had signs -- 'Irish need not apply,'" Riley said.

The difference between past immigrants and those the Minutemen are trying to stop is simple, he said.

"The Irish came here legally," he said. "They're coming over illegally."