Thread: 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

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?

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

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

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.

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

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