Border vigil ends on wary note

Border vigil ends on wary note


By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES



Bob Wright, 47, butane factory owner, Hobbs, Eunice, N.M.
MAYA ALLERUZZO (THE WASHINGTON TIMES)

PALOMINAS, Ariz. - Mike Gaddy, 58, a retired Army veteran of Vietnam, Gre-nada and Beirut, rises silently to address fellow Minuteman Project volunteers gathered at their "command center," the mess hall of a ramshackle Bible college.
"Heaven help these folks when we leave," Mr. Gaddy says, attempting to make eye contact with each of the 40 men and women sitting at a dozen wooden tables. "The relative peace and tranquility they've experienced over the past few weeks is going to end, quite literally, overnight."
No one has to tell Connie Faust what he means.
Every night, illegal immigrants head north across the "retirement hideaway" that Mrs. Faust and her husband, Ed, own four miles down the highway near the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.
"You have no idea how much safety and quiet you have given us, how grateful we are that you all are here," she says to the Minuteman Project volunteers, struggling to maintain her composure.
The volunteers remain silent, but each smiles at her and nods.
"I love all of you very much," says Mrs. Faust, one of the many women to participate in the Minuteman Project's 30-day border vigil to protest what the activists consider the lax immigration-enforcement policies of Congress and the White House.
John Waters, who opened his diner at the antiquated Palominas Trading Post on Highway 92 as an "eating and meeting place" for the Minuteman volunteers, also knows what Mr. Gaddy means.
"All night, every night, the dogs are barking, the U.S. Border Patrol is chasing up one road or down another, and their helicopters are constantly buzzing overhead," says Mr. Waters, whose border property is also a favorite corridor for illegals crossing into the United States.
"Since the Minutemen arrived, we've been able to sleep at night, and that's no small task," he says.
The Minuteman Project, which formally began April 1, came to an end yesterday. It was proclaimed a success by its organizers and grudgingly credited by both the U.S. and Mexican governments with significantly cutting illegal immigration along a 23-mile section of the U.S.-Mexico border east and west of here.
Known generally as the San Pedro River Valley, the high desert area targeted by the Minuteman volunteers is a favored route for illegal immigrants headed north. It is part of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which is responsible for 260 miles of the border. The 2,000 agents assigned here accounted for more than 40 percent of the agency's 1.15 million apprehensions of illegal immigrants nationwide last year.
In April 2004, Border Patrol agents caught 64,000 illegal immigrants along the stretch of border targeted by the Minuteman volunteers â€â€

My question is..........why don't the good citizens, having already experienced the positive that came from the MMP, band together with their own "neighborhood watch" in order to protect their own?

Imagine if every border town decided to pull together in this manner......what a powerful message it would send to the state & federal governments!

It's truly no different that what our Ranchers of years past had to do in order to protect their property.

I was thinking the very same thing!!

Why not at each point of the MMP Project, find a group and train them to guard the border when MMP leaves?

This story breaks your heart. Their "peaceful quiet enjoyment" of their homes and property will end and the nightmare of invasion start anew.

Where are Michael Moore, Spielberg, Kostner, Eastwood, Mel Gibson??

Is this not the stuff of MOVIES??

POP ONE OUT--that brings National Attention to the suffering and terror of Americans!

They (the legislators) don't give one flying flip about the suffering and terror of American citzens...just give the big corporations some illegal, semi-slaves that will eventually move into the mainstream...to cause more trouble and cost more taxdollars. That's their only interest...those campaign contributions.

We're gonna see about THAT.

RR

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My question is..........why don't the good citizens, having already experienced the positive that came from the MMP, band together with their own "neighborhood watch" in order to protect their own?

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Think about it. They can't legally shoot invaders. They are people isolated with neighbors five miles away who can't stay awake 24 hours a day. Did you see the stats? 2,100 a DAY cross in that area. What can 50 ranchers do to protect themselves against 2,100?

Ranchers on the border ahve been beat up, raped and even killed in their own homes. It is really easy for us to sit here in NC where we are still the majority and say what they should do. But they are outnumbered many times over. What can they do? If our government won't defend the borders, those ranchers are doomed, as is anyone else who lives on the border.

The Minutemen protected us ALL, regardless of what part of this country we live in. They were called every name in the book by people from the President on down. Here in NC, I heard people LAUGH about them and I don't mind telling you I'm deeply offended by that laughter. What do you think would have happened if they hadn't been so well disciplined as to not shoot anyone? All the people who sneak across that border aren't peace-loving workers.

If you look at on line government land for sale, you will notice that the US gov't is selling off acres and acres of land along the US Mexico border. Why do you suppose that is? Do you think they like picking up all that trash, finding all those bodies? No, they would rather sell it to Mexicans (and that is who buys most of it) than deal with this problem anymore.

Maybe,and this is a stretch,if the law in border states were changed so that people only had to perceive a threat in order to use force many people crossing illegally might think twice about coming through.Some of these guys crossing illegally are heavily armed breaking both American and Mexican law.

JUNIUS wrote

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Ranchers on the border ahve been beat up, raped and even killed in their own homes

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I understand what you're referring to but there are certain things that are vitally important here.

1. the UN is drafting a proposal to UNARM the U.S.A.
{don't say that's impossible,lol, most countries have submitted}

2. WE THE PEOPLE have the RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE
and all too often our "we the people" are afraid to defend ourselves.

3. The Americans on the borders, after the very first rape or murder, should have been ARMED & COLLECTED TOGETHER FOR SELF DEFENSE.

4. This is exactly what we've been afraid of for years............AMERICANS afraid of the CONSEQUENCES of a TWISTED LEGAL SYSTEM.

So, I respectfully disagree here.........the people must protect their families and their property against any and all who wish to do them harm. ORGANIZING is their power!

Again, the RULE OF LAW has been ignored. Here in lies the key to this problem!!

The town is 49,000 people, not 50 ranchers. A community that size can use volunteers until they hire their own public employees to protect the border. Several communities can join up and fund a whole team that works together like a local Border Patrol.

The Minutemen were the best!! But now they left and won't be back until I think it is October. They only have 6 months to do it on their own.

They should do it on their own....taking back a country is not going to be easy.....

JUDY, so right. Also, these are horsemen which is a huge advantage. They're also USED TO THE CLIMATE and can handle it better than those of us from the more Northern states.

These people have a lot going for them. Years ago there were FEW Ranchers up against MANY banditos. We didn't let it stop us then and we sure has heck CAN'T LET IT STOP US NOW.

***The MMP showed the country that it doesn't take violence to stop this invasion. It took GUMPTION & DETERMINATION to sit in a lawn chair and use a cell phone.

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1. the UN is drafting a proposal to UNARM the U.S.A.
{don't say that's impossible,lol, most countries have submitted

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I've heard that....and that will be the day that the Americans revolt. The UN will NOT overrule our constitutional rights.

As far as the ranchers banding together to hire people to guard the border..they probably think they already have...in the form of sheriffs office and deputies, border patrol...etc.

Wherever Americans find themselves under threat...then all Americans are under threat...no matter how many miles away they may be...When our elected officials won't protect us...ALL of us...it's time to shake the halls of congress to its rafters...and don't tell me those Az. legislators don't KNOW about the problem

RR

YES, YES....They can do it!! They have the history, the knowledge, and the courage....they can do it!!

And, I believe they will.....

I feel they are having "meetings" now to figure out what to do now that they are on their own.

I believe in them!!

JUDY, lol

I respect that we all have different opinions and also different solutions.

BUT..........the time for meetings is over!! Over! There was plenty of time for that before and now ACTION is the only thing that means anything. That old addage is so true.."talk is cheap and actions speak"
Remember everyone, these groups are calling for violence against Americans!! :arrow: read the translation from "mecha" that JP did last night. Read it carefully. This truly is a war and we didn't even know it until recently.

We all want to "shake the rafters in Congress" and that will take multi-pronged action. The border residents MUST stand up for themselves while we all support one another. Their law enforcement is NOT adhering to the RULE OF LAW and the residents must make this known.

:arrow: YES, the UN has already drafted their resolution to DISARM us. with our Constitution being destroyed by our own, just how far is this going to go?

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The town is 49,000 people, not 50 ranchers. A community that size can use volunteers until they hire their own public employees to protect the border. Several communities can join up and fund a whole team that works together like a local Border Patrol.

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That could well be so but that doesn't mean that all of those people are against the illegals. Chances are, part of them are related to the illegals and want them to come across the border.

The ranchers don't live in town and they ARE isolated.

Yes, they could band together and fund a team. But you realize that those people aren't exactly rolling in clover out there in the middle of nowhere, right? And, with their tax money, they are already funding a team, it's called the Border Patrol. You are funding it, too. You do realize it isn't effective because the team isn't big enough, right? That is compliments of President Bush who said he would get more agents then cut the number of new hires to a tenth of what he promised!

The federal government is sworn to protect our borders. As a border resident, I can see how the people get so frustrated when people inland don't see the big picutre. As a non-border resident for part of the year, I can see that people inland have little concept of what it is actually like to live on the border. It's easy to sit and say, they should do this and they should do that until you live in the middle of it.

And, yes, WE, the people, have a right to self defense. But we the people don't have the right to sit up on the hill and pick off people at random.

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And, yes, WE, the people, have a right to self defense. But we the people don't have the right to sit up on the hill and pick off people at random.

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JUNIUS, if one of us suggested the above, would you please point it out.
I re-read the posts and couldn't find it anywhere but then again, my eyes, lol, give me trouble occassionally.

Junius--I do agree that inland folks can't understand the trauma of a border town being over run with citizens from a foreign nation. I've read some of the stories and seen the videos just recently...within the past year. I know the problem I see here 2000 miles from the border and know that it must amplified 3,000,000 times a year in the southwest border towns. It is easy for us to sit here and urge you to replace the Minutemen. I also know how hard that will be in some numbers.

The suggestion was made to have you do something to protect yourselves until we can get something done with the President, Congress, Border Patrol, National Guard, and/or the Minutemen when they come back in the fall.

It is outrageous and unforgivable for our Government to have placed these border towns and property owners of land surrounding them in this position.

When we speak of a "Border" and borderland, unless that land happens to be in a federal park or federal land like in Arizona, all borderland is private property, farms, ranches, woods, yards and "private" property belonging to American Citizens. Yes, I realize now that some of this property may have fallen into alien hands, but only by violations of law in most cases.

We don't know all the answers or have all the solutions. But if there were some way for the people who own these properties to work together and replace the Minutemen, then the progress that has been made toward bringing themselves some peace and quiet enjoyment of their property without eternal trespass and violations and degradation and terror and fear and worry and drugs and murders....then the local citizen watches or guards could be a good option for holding that progress until we can get this problem with the federal government resolved.

There is no excuse no explanation for what has happened. Other than a total abandonment of the rule of law and the requirement and duty to enforce that law by our government. It is an unforgivable inaction against the people of the United States, especially those Americans living and who own property in the border areas of the United States.

We also undertand, at least I do, the emotional difficulties of this issue. Many are just nice people coming in thinking they are welcome, when they aren't. Many are as you say coming to visit or rejoin family. This is a travesty of monumental proportions for everyone from both nations and sorting it all out is going to be very difficult, but the flow has to stop somehow NOW.

The government has concealed the numbers to conceal the invasion. Officials have denied knowledge when we know now they had it. Professionals, highly paid by the American taxpayer have not done the job they were paid to do. High level professionals who disregarded the law and the reason for it to accomplish something repugnant to us all, a change in the political power of the United States in order to end our country.

The flow has to stop.....somehow.....now.

I live some 400 miles from the border in Texas...but still I know how those folks who live right on the border feel...and what they endure.

When I lived in Kuwait all those years ago...Kuwait was populated mainly by persons who immigrated there in order to work. They had no family with them, no women. My neighbor and I lived in a walled compound...a duplex with a six foot high cement block fence. Our husbands were out on the rig for weeks at a time.

Wherever Sue and I went..Arab men followed us in packs..just staring...in the supermarket they would make some excuse to bump into us...accidentally rubbing against us...if they intentionally touched us we could call the police which stood on every corner.

At night, they would climb over our fence...we could hear them out there...they'd try to find some place to peek thru the draperies to see if they could tell what was going on in our homes. We couldn't call the police...no phones...we had no weapons..they weren't allowed. We spent many a night hiding behind screens, sleeping in a corner of our rooms...and NOTHING could be done about it. Happily, no one ever broke in...I had a little poodle who would bark frantically all night long...but...there were events at that time....where American women would catch a taxi only to be found dead out in the desert. I couldn't afford a car so I had to walk everywhere. I know about terror...I know about intruders...I know about being defenseless...but I never DREAMED that these things would be occuring in America...to Americans...

RR

RR wrote

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but I never DREAMED that these things would be occuring in America...to Americans...

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IMHO, it's happening because we've been taking a rather long nap, LOL. And, this is NOT the Middle East.

AND because those who are trying to disarm Americans have many Americans too frightened to either learn how to protect themselves or are frightened about being hung out to dry through our twisted judiciary.

America became great for many reasons...........one of them was our courage to PROTECT OURSELVES.

***The MMP showed the world that a CELL PHONE AND LAWN CHAIR was quite a solid WEAPON.

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I couldn't afford a car so I had to walk everywhere. I know about terror...I know about intruders...I know about being defenseless...but I never DREAMED that these things would be occuring in America...to Americans...

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RR, as you probably know, I, too, lived in the ME for about 11 years. I know exactly the type of things you are talking about. I never thought the things that became so commonplace in those places could happen here, either. I guess we all found out it could on 9/11/2001. I'm still reeling from that shock. And it is a major part of the reason I want our borders secured. Not just Mexicans looking for jobs come across. The gangs have made deals with al quaeda to bring people in. Some of the guys we were overseas with were Mexican-Americans. Their features were such that they were often mistaken for Arabs. So it would be very very easy for a few hundred of them to slip across the border and blend in with the crowd. It is already known that some have just by the debris left on the border which includes prayer rugs, pages from the koran, newspapers and magazines printed in Arabic, etc.

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IMHO, it's happening because we've been taking a rather long nap, LOL. And, this is NOT the Middle East.

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That is for certain. Thieves have their hands severed and drug dealers are executed in front of the main mosque every Friday in the Mid East. Not that I am advocating cutting off people's limbs for committing crimes but I do and always have believed that execution is just punishment for drug dealers.

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...... farms, ranches, woods, yards and "private" property belonging to American Citizens. Yes, I realize now that some of this property may have fallen into alien hands, but only by violations of law in most cases.

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Unfortunately, there is no law that says foreign nationals can't buy up property in the USA. How do you think all the Arabs bought up all the hotels and restaurants on the NC coast? I can name a bunch of places in Morehead City and Atlantic Beach that are owned by Arabs and Indians from India. How do you think that the Japanese own so much of Hawaii? And, of course, Mexicans own a lot of property on the border. They buy more every day.

Food Lion belongs to Belgium. If my memory serves me the Bank of America belongs to France?

Any members of e-bay? Go do a search for land and see how cheap it is in the western desert, All one has to have is the money to buy it and most of that western desert land goes for next to nothing. From there, you can request a listing every week of all gov't land that is available for sale. I thought of buying up a whole bunch of it and then I realized that I could be forced to pick up the mountains of trash the illegals leave behind.

For those who have never been west, once you pass Van Horn, Texas, it is miles and miles of pretty much absolutely nothing until you get to Los Angeles via I-10. I've been that route many times. In the fall, you can see the surveillance balloons up there watching the border sometimes. You used to be able to see the drones flying until the gov't decided that they weren't necessary. I guess they were spotting too many illegals.

2ndamendasis, no, no one said anything about sitting on the hill. But it was said that we have the right to defend ourselves and that inspired my comment. My point was that it is kind of hard for one isolated rancher to defend himself/herself against hundreds of potential criminals.

Regarding the Minutemen, I don't think they will be sitting on that same stretch of border in the fall. There are two separate plans, one for TX and one for CA.

JuniusJr--about 30 years ago my homestate of Missouri passed a law prohibiting foreign ownership of agricultural land within the boundaries of the state of Missouri. To my knowledge that law remains on the books.

Foreign corporations are required to file with the United States Government and obtain a permit to operate in the US. These would be legal foreign corporations.

Foreign citizens are required to have a visa or other documents from the United States government prior to entry into the United States for purposes other than tourism in which case a passport is required. Mexico may be an exception...???