Thread: BBC- Minutemen take fight to US capital

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4508692.stm


Minutemen take fight to US capital

By Oliver Conway
BBC News, Washington



There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living inside the United States, and 1,500 cross into the country everyday, mostly from Mexico.

Some US citizens, under the banner of the Minuteman group, are taking direct action to stop what they call the "human flood".


Some volunteers patrol the border, but others also carrying out operations far from any frontier

It's seven o'clock on a bitterly cold morning in Herndon, a suburb of Washington DC, and I am sitting in a diner with a group of Minutemen.

The 10 or so middle-aged men and women gather here several times a week, before going out on patrol.

Like their fellow Minutemen who take turns monitoring the US-Mexican border, these Herndon residents are doing what they see as their part in the fight against illegal immigration.


If the labourers realise they are not going to get any more jobs here, they will go somewhere else
George Taplin
Minuteman

Led by retired naval officer George Taplin, they make their way into cold dawn and head towards a local convenience store, where about 40 Hispanic day labourers are gathered, waiting for work.

They take up position across the road from the parking lot and begin photographing the comings and goings of vans and pick-up trucks, trying to identify number plates.

George Taplin says they want to stop the employers coming here to hire what he says are illegal workers.

The group intends to note down number plates and company names, and pass them on to the tax authorities.

"If they get the idea that we are going to report them for breaking the law, then they will stop coming here," he says.

"If the labourers realise they are not going to get any more jobs here, they will go somewhere else."

Waiting for work

Whenever a van pulls up, the labourers gather round, hoping for a job. A few lucky ones are driven away.


Often, they arrange to meet elsewhere to avoid the cameras of the Minutemen, says Mr Taplin.

A blue line painted across the store's car park marks out an area where the workers can gather.

Every so often as they spill out, a policeman orders them back.

Having seen me with the Minutemen, the labourers are reluctant to talk.

But Jenny Alvers a community worker who spends most mornings on the site, says the men gathered here are just trying to feed their families.

"The workers are here because they want to work, as simple as that. They are looking for work just like all the rest of us - like any human being wants to."

And one local woman who stopped to hire some of the workers said not all Herndon residents back the Minutemen, and that many were appalled by their "hateful attitudes".

Passionate issue

It is a difficult issue for the whole nation. How to control illegal immigration and at the same time maintain the flow of cheap labour which many say is vital to the economy.


After all, I asked George Taplin, wasn't the US built on generations of workers who came here to make new lives for themselves.

He says that is not the point.

"These guys aren't doing it legally, so why should the guys that are doing it illegally be put at the head of the line?

"They are not accountable for any of their actions. If one of them gets into an accident with a US citizen, he doesn't have any ID, so the cops let him go because they can't do anything to him."

The Minutemen may not reflect mainstream US opinion, but their activities in Herndon highlight the passions aroused by illegal immigration in the country.

I disagree with a couple of those statements...1. eleven million? No way...there's more than triple that number. They don't want the true numbers revealed cause it would shock lots of citizens out of their socks and just might cause them to rethink the entire program.

2. I also believe that the MinuteMen reflect the attitudes of this country and her citizens. True there are still a few bleeding hearts around who turn this tidal wave of humanity into a warm and fuzzy..'just want to feed their families' sort of thing. For every illegal here 'just wanting to feed their families' that just one more American not able to feed theirs. Not a good trade if you ask me.

I sure get tired of hearing that particular 'argument'...it's illegal for them to be here=no argument.

RR

I agree, RoadRunner. The numbers are higher, but they are being made to to appear LOW so that the American people don't faint in shock as they discover the truth about this negligence.

On the other hand, they want them to appear to be too HIGH so as to make it seem that dealing with the problem is too "hard".

Whichever is more convenient at any given moment to fit the agenda and plan is what we will hear and see.