www.borderlandnews.com

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Minutemen patrols start today

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

The Texas Minutemen begin to patrol a 25-mile stretch between Fabens and Fort Hancock today, a spot group members chose from other locations on the border, in part, because of the welcome they received from Sheriff Leo Samaniego.

"Nowhere have I seen the kind of willingness and welcome we have seen in El Paso County," said Frank George, the spokesman for the group and a veteran Minutemen patroller.

"Usually law enforcement runs away. They don't want to have anything to do with the Minutemen. There's political fallout. They can be called racists if they support us. But Sheriff Samaniego was extremely supportive."

The patrollers, most of whom carry weapons for protection, plan to be in the area throughout October. They sit on public land, and on private land wherever they obtain permission from landowners, and scan the border for undocumented immigrants to report to the Border Patrol.

Samaniego, who met with the group in August, explained his position.

"We're neutral. I can't keep them out of the border. It's between them and the farmers," he said.

Ray Ybarra, an organizer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said being neutral is not enough.

"By not speaking out against hatred, you invite it into your community," he said.

The ACLU will have about 20 observers following Minutemen patrollers today in El Paso and New Mexico.

Volunteers involved with the Minutemen groups said they are not motivated by hatred, but want to show that securing the border would be possible if the government provided more resources.

Split border

After the original Minuteman Project in Arizona in April, which unfolded without major incidents, the group splintered because of personality clashes and other differences.

Now about 20 to 25 groups operate from California to Texas, sharing the border.

In Texas, the Texas Minutemen cover the Fabens area, and a chapter of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will target Falfurrias, a southeast Texas town.

In New Mexico, another chapter of that group will focus on Hatchita, and a local group called the New Mexico Border Watch will patrol from Sunland Park to Columbus.

Meet the Minutemen

The leaders of the groups tend to be middle-aged men with a fondness for guns, but with little else in common.

George, the Texas Minutemen spokesman, is an electronics contractor in California and a Cuban immigrant.

"The bigger picture for me is that I was in the U.S. when Cuba was lost to communism, and I believe this country is likewise being lost" to illegal immigration, he explained.

The group's man on the ground, Shannon McGauley, is a private investigator in Dallas.

Al Garza, in charge of the Falfurrias operation, is a private investigator in Arizona and a Vietnam War veteran. To those who are surprised by the fact that he is Mexican-American, he says, "Because my last name is Garza, I should fly a Mexican flag?"

Then there is Clifford Alford, who has been patrolling the Southern New Mexico desert regularly for months with the group he created, New Mexico Border Watch. Alford is a former soldier, a current insurance investigator and an ACLU member. He doesn't like to be called a Minuteman.

"I flat-out hate the Minutemen organizations. They come here for October and they go home. They don't accomplish anything. What has helped and gotten the government's attention is a continuous presence," he said.

How many

Exactly how many patrollers will be on the ground this month is unknown.

The biggest group, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, has signed up 4,000 members for patrols on the southern and northern borders, fewer than their reported goal of 10,000.

The Texas Minutemen signed up 500 people to patrol the Fabens area, and organizers estimated that at least half would show up. But more than 100 volunteers canceled because of the hurricanes, and the remaining patrollers have not all signed up for the entire month. Some are in for only a weekend.

Alford, whose group had 150 members at one time, said there were never more than 16 patrollers on the ground at any time.

In Fabens, the patrollers said they have studied excerpts of the Texas Penal Code photocopied for them by Sheriff Samaniego and were ready to start working. The copied articles pertain to weapons possession and arbitrary detention.