Thread: Could infighting end Minuteman movement?

Could infighting end Minuteman movement?
Anti-illegal immigration group struggling as chapters disband, donations slow
By Kerry Lester | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 5/19/2008

One of the most visible groups in the anti-illegal immigration movement could be defunct in seven months, its leader says.

"We've lost the battle," said Minuteman project founder Jim Gilchrist. "My intuition tells me … this entire movement will fizzle to nothing by the end of the year."

Gilchrist, a former California accountant, founded the project in October 2004. In two years, the grass-roots border-control group had grown to boast more than 200 chapters across the country.

Today, Gilchrist says, a host of internal problems are bringing the movement to its knees.

More than 20 chapters, including the Skokie-based Illinois Minuteman project, have disbanded, leaving fewer than 180 in operation.

Dozens of chapters are fighting with one another and vying for attention, he said.

"Donations are way down. Communication is way down … instead of people getting organized and unified, they're attacking each other more than the issues," Gilchrist said. "We're still fighting the fight, but I want to be clear: I'm firing a warning shot."

Lindenhurst resident Rick Biesada, director of the Chicago Minuteman Project, calls the infighting "disheartening. Everyone wants to be a chief these days. But nobody wants to be an Indian."

When chapters close, Gilchrist said, more times than not members do not join another chapter -- they leave the movement.

The hundreds of members of the Illinois Minuteman Project, which shut down after leader Rosanna Pulido went to work for the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, haven't joined the Chicago project, Biesada said.

Jack Martin, a project director for FAIR, could not comment on whether his organization has reaped the benefits of the Minuteman chapter's collapse.

"I don't think that we have any good idea as to whether people who come to us have been members of Minuteman chapters or are members, we don't have that data," he said.

Still, Martin said, FAIR numbers and operations remain steady.

Though Biesada says the two remaining local Minuteman chapters, the Chicago Minuteman and the Minuteman Midwest, are staying strong for the time being, "as far as staying together as a national movement, it's up in the air right now."

That type of conjecture, immigration experts say, is reasonable.

"For all these reasons and more, plus the current context," said Barry Chiswick, an immigration and economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, "the anti-illegal immigration movement could very well collapse."

Two factors, the presidential election and the economy, have shifted focus away from the issue of illegal immigration, taking the wind out of the Minuteman sails.

Candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain all have kept the subject on the back burner, Chiswick said.

"Hispanics are a key demographic group in this election," he said. "A large number of them are interested in easier immigration. If you come out for stricter enforcement during a campaign, you're only risking making people angry."

Then there's the economic downturn, says Notre Dame's Institute of Latino Studies Director Allert Brown-Gort.

"There are other things to talk about that are more pressing," than immigration, Brown-Gort said. "It's taken the wind out of the movement."

Rising fuel prices make it more difficult for many to attend meetings and protests.

Biesada, who runs a trucking business, says "normally, if I'd go to a protest or rally, I'd hire someone to work for me. Now I can't afford to do it. The price of diesel fuel is just killing us."

Economic woes may even blunt the Minuteman Project's reason for being.

The construction industry, traditionally a draw for Hispanic immigrants, according to nonpartisan Pew Research Center, is at a near standstill.

"If you're not likely to find a job, I think we're going to see a serious downturn in the number of people coming across the border. It's a response to the market," Brown-Gort said.

Fewer job opportunities and the falling value of the dollar "means that coming to the United States is less attractive than it has been," Chiswick said. "Even if you find a job, that job is less valuable."

With a combination of the economic downturn, the lack of national attention and a slowing of illegal immigrant traffic, McHenry County Latino Coalition director Carlos Acosta said he believes it's getting harder and harder for anti-immigration groups to connect with the general population.

"Their message has become a little stale," Acosta said. "Because the economy has gone down, everybody's out of work. It's harder to blame an immigrant for losing a job."

Still, Acosta said, if the Minuteman movement were to dwindle, in some ways it could hurt immigration advocacy groups.

Local Minuteman protests have created a few unexpected alliances, Acosta said.

"We have been able to reach out to other groups locally that have not been traditionally involved -- a much better relationship with the McHenry County Peace group -- they had not historically been involved in immigration matters."

"The Minuteman movement, in some ways, really strengthened immigrant advocacy groups," Acosta said. "It forced us to find ways to really explain to the general population what are the benefits of comprehensive immigration reform."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=193340&src=4

"For all these reasons and more, plus the current context," said Barry Chiswick, an immigration and economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, "the anti-illegal immigration movement could very well collapse."

Barry Chiswick must be living on the far side of the moon! The anti-illegal immigration movement is gaining steam like a locomotive!

"We've lost the battle," said Minuteman project founder Jim Gilchrist

This fruit loop turncoat is not a Minute Man. He is a self- grandising and delusional cow pie.

"Their message has become a little stale," Acosta said. "Because the economy has gone down, everybody's out of work. It's harder to blame an immigrant for losing a job."

Get real. Tell this to the thousands of Americans who had thier jobs stolen by IAs. This person needs to get thier head checked.

"We've lost the battle," said Minuteman project founder Jim Gilchrist. "My intuition tells me … this entire movement will fizzle to nothing by the end of the year."

Cosnider the source...an ego-maniac self-centered loser. He's been thoroughly discredited and shunned so he's throwing out little firecrackers hoping someone actually listens to him.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-116025.html

Related article with info from William.

The "Minutemen" was the first anti-illegal movement I joined. That was a few years back. I think, in the begining, it was a good organization. Then, I began receiving email from Gilchrist saying there were traitors within the organization, and to desregard any corresponce I received from them, that HE was the real deal. Then, I began getting email from the "other side" saying that Gilchrist was the traitor, and he was causing all the trouble. They went into length about the court hearings, lawsuits etc, as did Gilchrist. I couldn't tell the difference between the two groups. I disenged myself from them at that point. When I saw Gilchrist on TV endorsing Huckabee, I knew I'd been right about my assessment, in that, Gilchrist was the one with the problems.

The only thing collapsing in our movement is Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project.

W

Jim Gilchrist and the Minuteman Project.

Good Riddance, I say !!

"Their message has become a little stale," Acosta said. "Because the economy has gone down, everybody's out of work. It's harder to blame an immigrant for losing a job."

I don't think So !!

Their message has become a little stale," Acosta said. "Because the economy has gone down, everybody's out of work. It's harder to blame an immigrant for losing a job."

They weren't legal immigrants.......they were illegal, working illegally, driving down pay to where citizens couldn't afford to work at them anymore and live.....it was the illegals that claimed they were so invaluable that our entire economy would colapse if they weren't here and we can see that was a load of bull.......people start mowing their own lawns, watching their own kids, cleaning their own toliets, eating meals at home, doing their own gardening and home repair, not going on long vacations or finding other things to do for vacation and don't care about staying in motels. The vast majority of these jobs are seasonal, feast or famine and not the bedrock of this economy and Americans aren't nomads traveling across the country with their family in tow to hang out for 3 mos. here and there and move on to the next state to scrounge for another temporary post. The housing boom fed alot of this but as we can see......it's not limitless. Cities are paying big time for the massive influx of people and our infrastructure couldn't handle that excessive boom forever.......god only knows how long it will be for us to play catch-up with that. No money sure has a fast ripple effect, shame the wealth didn't ripple. We don't and never did need all these people and certainly can't sustain them all when we're all out of work. I don't think anyone doubted we need TEMPORARY workers......ones who LEAVE and go HOME when it's over....and that maybe there needed to be some work on that front......but we didn't need 20-40 MILLION of them, complete with kids and families to take care of.....and all the rest that came with that package.

I don't think it's over at all.......people haven't resigned to this at all.