Thread: ALIPAC's occutegirl quoted in Washington Post

Immigration Opponents To Patrol U.S. Border
Published by the Washington Post, 3/31/05

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Mar30.html
Rights Groups Condemn 'Minuteman' Protest

By Amy Argetsinger

LOS ANGELES -- The call went out last autumn the way they do these days, in Internet forums and forwarded e-mails: Are YOU interested in spending up to 30 days along the Arizona border as part of a blocking force against entry into the U.S. by illegal aliens early next spring?

The men who put out the call -- a small-town Arizona newspaper publisher and a retired Southern California accountant -- were frustrated by what they viewed as the federal government's inability to police its vast desert border with Mexico. So, they argued, why not enlist volunteers to help?

The Minuteman Project, set to begin tomorrow in Tombstone, Ariz., had no trouble finding any. About 1,300 people are expected to show up for some part of the month-long protest, say the organizers, who hope to place them at half-mile intervals to monitor a 23-mile stretch of border said to be the most porous in the nation.

"You sit here on a hilltop, and you watch people walk unabatedly into this country," organizer Chris Simcox said. "It's shocking."

But the project's unexpected popularity is raising serious safety concerns among federal and local officials and watchdog groups fearing it will attract extremists or spark violent confrontations. Postings about the event have been spotted on white-supremacist Web sites, and fliers from hate groups have been found in mailboxes in recent days.

"They are going to draw every misfit, every renegade, everyone with an ax to grind about ethnic preference," said Ray Borane, mayor of Douglas, Ariz., a border town that will be ground zero for much of the month. "They are not welcome here."

Across the border, Mexican President Vicente Fox has condemned the program, calling it an "immigrant hunter." President Bush echoed those concerns last week.

Simcox, 44, of Tombstone said he has been screening out volunteers with any criminal record and will hold participants to a "strict no-contact policy" -- if they see anyone trying to cross the border, they are to call the U.S. Border Patrol, he said.

He and fellow organizer Jim Gilchrist of Aliso Viejo, Calif., have also toned down some of the rhetoric, now advertising the event as less of a civilian patrol than a "political rally and protest" meant to draw national attention to their cause.

They say it is working: Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it will assign 500 more patrol agents to the Arizona border, a 25 percent increase, some of them immediately. Border Patrol officials, though, say the announcement has no connection to the Minuteman Project and simply comes in line with recommendations from intelligence officials.

The protest will take place along a stretch of Cochise County -- a jurisdiction the size of Connecticut with a population of about 130,000 -- that has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate in recent years. Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants the Border Patrol apprehended nationwide last year, one-fifth were found in Cochise County. Some residents complain that the relentless traffic has disrupted their quality of life, describing shoot-outs, property damage and a swath of debris left behind by immigrants.

"All night long, there's dogs barking, there's helicopters, there's Border Patrol running up and down the road," said John Waters, a restaurant operator in Palominas, Ariz., who supports the Minuteman Project.

Simcox, who moved to Tombstone a few years ago and bought the local paper "when I couldn't get the mainstream media to cover the issues," has organized other volunteer patrol efforts, though officials dispute his claims of apprehending hundreds of illegal immigrants. He scoffs at the idea that his event will be populated by racist vigilantes, describing instead a corps of volunteers in floppy hats and lawn chairs.

"A majority of volunteers are senior citizens, former police officers, veterans -- concerned citizens who understand this is a political protest," he said.

Some officials have expressed alarm at the Minuteman organizers' acknowledgment that some of their volunteers may be armed with handguns, as permitted by state law. But Deborah Sattler, 42, a volunteer from Irvine, Calif., said such fears are overstated.

"No one I know [who's going] has a gun or wants a gun," said the mother of two. She plans to bring her son, 11, though not permit him on the border patrols.

But Border Patrol officials say they fear for the safety of well-intentioned volunteers -- whose help, they hasten to add, they do not need.

"I don't think they realize the violence that occurs here on a daily basis," said Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson. Since the federal government began putting a greater squeeze on the border, immigrant smugglers have become more desperate and dangerous, he said. "It used to be rock-throwing, now it's shootings."

He added that the border is now lined with a variety of sensors that he fears could easily be set off by a Minuteman volunteer: "What if an agent goes out there with night-vision goggles and sees someone armed?"

Human-rights and civil-liberties organizations, meanwhile, are condemning the effort but said they are also stepping carefully for fear of adding to a circus-like environment on the border.

"It has the potential of being quite the volatile mix," said Eleanor Eisenberg, director of the Arizona American Civil Liberties Union, which intends to send "legal observers" to watch for abuse against immigrants. Tucson-based Border Action Network is pushing law enforcement to prosecute vigilantes but is otherwise discouraging affiliates from going to counter-protest.

"Our membership is mostly Latinos," said Jennifer Allen, the group's director. "It's just not safe."

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WOW .. you made the Washington Post? I have to run for now but I'll be back to read this completely later.

CONGRATS! .. you're now a media darling .. at least for ALIPAC you are!

"You sit here on a hilltop, and you watch people walk unabatedly into this country," organizer Chris Simcox said. "It's shocking."

Actually, it is ridiculous. Washington fiddles.......

"They are going to draw every misfit, every renegade, everyone with an ax to grind about ethnic preference," said Ray Borane, mayor of Douglas, Ariz., a border town that will be ground zero for much of the month. "They are not welcome here."

So far, all you seem to be drawing are illegals. Did it ever occur to you that sometning is wrong???

Simcox, who moved to Tombstone a few years ago and bought the local paper "when I couldn't get the mainstream media to cover the issues," has organized other volunteer patrol efforts, though officials dispute his claims of apprehending hundreds of illegal immigrants.

The mainstream media is either too lazy or too gutless. My money is on gutless.

They say it is working: Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it will assign 500 more patrol agents to the Arizona border, a 25 percent increase, some of them immediately. Border Patrol officials, though, say the announcement has no connection to the Minuteman Project and simply comes in line with recommendations from intelligence officials.

Of course the assigning of 500 more agents had nothing to do with the Minutemen.

Since the federal government began putting a greater squeeze on the border, immigrant smugglers have become more desperate and dangerous, he said. "It used to be rock-throwing, now it's shootings."

If shooting is what they want, then why don't we send a few troops there and see just how "desperate" they are.

Human-rights and civil-liberties organizations, meanwhile, are condemning the effort but said they are also stepping carefully for fear of adding to a circus-like environment on the border.

The environment is fine. They don't need the circus YOU are bringing.

"It has the potential of being quite the volatile mix," said Eleanor Eisenberg, director of the Arizona American Civil Liberties Union, which intends to send "legal observers" to watch for abuse against immigrants.

They can help spot illegals, or don't you care about illegal activity any more? You're group seems more interested in harassing American citizens than stemming the flow of illegal immigrants.