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Minutemen find border security vital vs. terrorism
Posted: Thursday, Apr 28, 2005 - 12:37:01 am EST
By PETE SWANSON
Clarion Sports Editor

NACO, Ariz. - For obvious reason her name will go unreported, the lady who, like her father, stopped her all-terrain vehicle Friday afternoon at Station 12 of the Minuteman Project's Naco Line on Border Road.

"My husband and I would like to join the Minuteman, but we live just a mile from the border and we fear retaliation," the lady said.

"If the Mexican gang based in Agua Prieta, across the border from Douglas, Ariz., found out that we were involved, no telling what they'd do. They've been known to kill people, cut their bodies into pieces, and mail the pieces back to the victims' families."

And . . .

"That gang, MS 13, is working with Al Queda to help terrorists get into our country."

Thus more urgency than ever for securing our borders against illegal immigration, an urgency that inspired the April-long Minuteman Project, now part of the Civil Homeland Defense organized 2 1/2 years ago by Chris Simcox, editor of the Tombstone Tumbleweed.

Minuteman I drew almost 1,000 volunteers who served part or all of April on the Naco Line or the Huachuca Line, the latter along a mountain front through which most of the Mexico-to-Arizona illegal immigration occurs. And most of the drug smuggling.

Another family, including a middle-aged son and his parents, stopped Wed., April 20, at Station 12 on the 13-station Naco Line, within sight of the border and a Mexican railroad. By stations 1 and 2, the border is directly across the road, the nations separated by only a wire fence.

"You're doing a good job. Keep it up," the lady said as her son stepped out of the car.

"I own a ranch about 25 miles from here, north of Bisbee," her son said.

"It wasn't uncommon at night to see 100 illegals on my property. They'd leave garbage all over the place. Since the Minuteman started, I haven't had any problems."

His mom, and later a Border Patrol agent, told scarier stories.

"We live two miles from the border, and only a quarter-mile from a border station," the mother said. One day, while we were loading horses, the Mexican army showed up on our property. They were in uniform and wearing badges. And they were armed."

What was Mexican military doing on Arizona soil? Running drugs. We also were told that young girls are smuggled across the border for child-sex -purposes.

A Border Patrol agent, when the lady's story was recounted, expressed no surprise.

"Mexican military have been known to open fire on the Border Patrol, " the agent said. "One case about five years ago, in Texas near El Paso, their military opened fire on Border Patrol. Our guys got the best of the Mexican military, subdued them, took the weapons away, and put them in jail.

"Then the higher-ups got into it."

Meaning politicans, probably all way to Washington, D.C. And . . .

"The Border Patrol was ordered to release the Mexican military from jail, give back their weapons, and send them back to Mexico."

Imagine. The mere presence of Mexican military on American soil is an act of war. After they fire on Americans, they are in essence told, take your weapons back so you can use them on us another day.

"Our people frequently are approached by citizens who thank us for being here," said Don, a Minuteman official, orientation leader and ex-Marine from Lawton, Okla.

"They feel safer because we're here."

Gabe, an insurance company property advisor in Miami, worked the Huachuca Line before a Naco Line stint.

"A lady living near Huachuca said she feels it necessary to take a guy when she walks her daughter to the school bus," Gabe reported.

Another Minuteman said:

"I have a friend who used to live on the south edge of Bisbee. My friend had a shed behind his house. He said he knew illegals were hiding in the shed at night, because he'd find diapers and food scraps. No damage was done to his shed, and nothing was taken, but he could tell that people had been in there."

Russ, a Tucson businessman, talk show host and web page operator, attended April 16 orientation meetings by morning in Tombstone and afternoon at the Trading Post in Polomias. His wife said:

"Illegals (unlike legals, who are medically examined before allowed to enter the United States), are bringing diseases into the country. One is an anti-biotic staph infection that kills. They're bringing tuberculosis back into our country."

And cragas, a disease that erodes lungs and eventually the heart.

Bill, who served the Minuteman only on the weekend because he teaches school in Phoenix, said he teaches at a high school between Sky Harbor Airport and Bank One Ballpark.

"Our school has a lot of illegals and an 80 percent dropout rate," said Bill. "No seniors, so if we get some seniors they'll be in classes with juniors.

"It's not uncommon to have 17-year-olds in eighth grade. One junior high student drove into the parking lot one morning. When I said, 'You're not old enough to drive,' he said, 'I'm 17, and I'm driving today because my dad didn't wake up.'

"It's not uncommon for a student to have one parent who still lives in Mexico. Nor is it uncommon to find people living in the house out front, and illegals living in a shack in back."

Bill then said: "One day a grandmother died. She was an illegal. Rather than report her death and have the law find out, they buried her in the back yard.

"How would you like to be the next guy to buy that house? You let your dog Spot out of the house. Spot goes into the back yard and starts digging. You think he's digging for a bone. Instead, he finds a femur."

Sadly, President George W. Bush and United States Sen. John McCain, among others, are on the wrong side of this issue. They advocate an open border. Like predecessor William Clinton, Bush supports Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a plan that would merge the United States with 33 nations of North and South America and the Caribbean. Among those countries: Marxist regimes in Brazil and Venezuela, and Communist Cuba.

When accountant and ex-serviceman Jim Gilchrist began organizing the Minuteman Project, it was assailed as a coming together of vigilantes and racists, even though Gilchrist said organizers "will reject anybody whose application shows an agenda or racism. This is non-confrontational."

In our first orientation on April 16, behind the Tumblewood building, orientation leader Tim stressed that the project is non-confrontational.

"Sometimes the Mexican army is across the border," Tim said. "If an Army guy makes a motion to point a machine gun at you, get up from your chair and walk to your car. Drive away if you have to.

"If you see illegals cross, let them walk past. Then get on your radio and call. We'll call the Border Patrol and they'll try to catch the illegals. If the illegals say something to you, don't answer. Ignore them. Don't give them water. Just observe so that you can report how many there are, what they look like, and the direction they're going.

"If one of them is bent over and appears to have a broken arm, report that so that the person can be given medical attention if he or she is caught."

Upon reporting to orientation, volunteers were asked if they had brought a gun. They were asked to show a carrying concealed weapon permit. Tim said:

"It's legal for you to carry a gun. But if you see an illegal, that gun stays in the holster."

The only possible exception: "If an illegal charges you and you think you're in danger," said Tim, "I cannot advise you on what to do."

My teammates made me proud. Mike, who trains hospital workers in open-heart surgery techniques, like opening veins. Cathy, who lives in Sacramento and owns property in Idaho, and taught school several years, after earning a college degree as a divorcee with two children. "After the divorce," Cathy said, "a friend said, 'I guess you'll go on welfare.' That made me mad. I decided to go to college and got Pell grants to pay for it."

Missy, from Texas, works in marketing after working as a pharmacy technician. Lou, a divorced lady from Michigan, sold real estate for 32 years. Talk about a small world, Station 11 was manned by Dennis, a manufacturer from Elkhart, Ind.

Through eight days I not only never met a vigilante or a racist, I never met a jerk.

No, I didn't see an illegal. Nor did most of us, although many reports have been made in April and the Border Patrol has followed up with apprehensions. Thirteen were caught Saturday night by Huachuca. At Naco Station 5 a few nights earlier, a Minuteman turned on his car lights, three illegals dropped into a ditch, Border Patrol was called and the three were arrested.

Al, our supervisor who moved to Tennessee after a career as a Michigan state prison guard, saw an illegal running on Border Road between stations 3 and 4. Al called Border Patrol, but the man got back into Mexico before he could be caught.

Cathy, who moved to the Huachuca Line because she didn't see an illegal in six days on the Naco Line, wanted more action and expressed her feelings to Don, who said:

"Don't feel like an failure if you don't see an illegal. It means you're doing a good job. Illegals know we're here, and attempted crossings are down."

On a road across the border, close to a mile from Station 12, we spotted cars of Federales, the Mexican police. We're told that the Federales aid those planning to cross. They take potential crossers to railroad viaducts, gulleys and dry creeks because those places are deemed best for sneaking into the United States. Federales also, we're told, furnish food and water to those wanting to cross.

Through binoculars, I saw a Mexican soldier, armed with rifle, walking on railroad tracks, by a trestle. A whiteshirted man walked nearby. The soldier bent down and picked up a bag, apparently dropped from a train that had passed moments earlier. Drugs?

On Tues., April 19, we were told to expect "lots of action." Mexicans had been pressing the fence by daytime. Fred, on Station 1, said his Mexican wife had listened to Mexican walkie-talkie radio traffic and learned that 257 people planned to cross that night. As it turned out, nothing happened. The fence-pressers, called coyotes, were scouting for those who planned to cross. Apparently they didn't see weakness in the Naco Line.

"If they haven't crossed by now, they'll probably wait till daybreak," Al said at 9:45 p.m. "They may lay in the fields and wait for daybreak, when they can see rattlesnakes and other animals."

One Mexican started, in daytime, to crawl under the fence across from Station 1. When Fred said, "Come on over," the would-be illegal backed into Mexico.

Simcox, who said he has received calls or letters or emails from 15,000 volunteers for future endeavors, plans Minuteman II in October. Minuteman II will cover the Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California borders. "In some places," said Missy, "the Rio Grande is shallow enough to wade across." A lady from California said the problem is more acute in her state.

We observers were observed. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had people watching us. That was okay. As Simcox said, "Those wanting to cross can't differentiate ACLU people from our people. They think we're together, in greater numbers. That's a deterrent, so the ACLU people are helping us."

One night the ACLU showed a movie behind Station 4. Al, besides his role as shift supervisor, manned Station 4 that night so it wouldn't be uncovered. An ACLUer was trying to toast marshmallows over a gasoline stove, but didn't know how.

What to do? Al showed him how.