Civilian Militia Proposed Along Border
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Civilian militia proposed along border
Perry reportedly backs role by unarmed 'neighborhood watch'
12:22 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 10, 2005
By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON – There's been no shortage of ideas to stem the flow of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexican border: Build a long wall. Send the Marines. Double the number of federal agents.
A Texas congressman has added another: Deputize armed civilians and deploy them as a militia to serve alongside the Border Patrol.
"We always relied on each other in frontier days in Texas," said Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston. "We relied on neighbors and friends to arm themselves and ... protect the neighborhood against bandits. I'm fed up."
His plan to create a Border Protection Corps has drawn support from four dozen House colleagues – and warnings from immigrants' advocates.
While Mr. Culberson said that Gov. Rick Perry is looking closely at his proposal, the governor's aides say he's more interested in a "neighborhood watch" approach. In that model, civilians would serve as eyes and ears for law enforcement rather than actively guarding rivers and checkpoints.
The state's director of homeland security, Steven McCraw, is developing a strategic plan and has discussed Mr. Culberson's approach with the congressman.
The current draft doesn't address the issue of armed volunteers. It says that for Texans living near Mexico, "the border is their neighborhood, and they can be organized to protect that neighborhood. The state will support efforts to enlist local citizens for well-coordinated neighborhood watch programs under the aegis of local law enforcement."
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said the governor's emphasis isn't on putting armed civilians along the Rio Grande.
"What Steve McCraw talked with Culberson about was more along the lines of the neighborhood watch-type program, but certainly not the militia aspect that Culberson has in his bill," she said.
Two weeks ago, the head of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol floated an idea similar to Mr. Culberson's. Within a day, superiors in the Homeland Security Department rejected the approach.
"The border is a very dangerous place, and the work of enforcing the border should be left to highly trained professional law enforcement agents," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
Immigrants' advocates predicted bloodshed if armed civilians are encouraged to help guard the border.
"You can do your background checks, but you're going to get some racists and trigger-happy people, and now they're thinking they have a license to kill," said Roger Rocha, Texas director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "The border needs to be patrolled by the federal government, not militias or anyone else."
Rep. Henry Bonilla, co-chairman of the Congressional Border Caucus, supports the Culberson plan, as does another San Antonio Republican, Rep. Lamar Smith, a key player on immigration.
The other co-chairman of the border caucus, Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi – a former sheriff – worries about vigilante justice. "He understands the frustration," said spokeswoman Cathy Travis. "But you're introducing armed groups of people into an already inflamed situation."The Culberson plan strikes many critics as an attempt to put a government stamp of approval on the controversial patrols begun in Arizona four months ago by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. The group, based in Tombstone, Ariz., says it will start Texas patrols in October.
About half the Minutemen carry firearms, said spokeswoman Connie Hair, but rather than confront border-crossers, they watch through binoculars and alert authorities when they spot something.
Under Mr. Culberson's $6.8 billion plan, militia members would report to governors or sheriffs. Volunteers would have to be citizens without criminal records.
E-mail tgillman@dallasnews.com
