Inland Empire Illegal Activists Protest Minute Man Project
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0, ... 73,00.html
You can e-mail your opinions to Armando Navarro at:
armando.navarro@ucr.edu
For information about Saturday's meeting, call
Armando Navarro at
(951) 827-1826.
Email reporter Brenda Gazzar at:
brenda.gazzar@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9355.
Latino activists target border watchers
U.S.-Mexico crossings to receive patrol scrutiny
throughout April
By Brenda Gazzar, Staff Writer
A network of largely Latino activists is taking on an armed, civilian
border-patrol operation set to launch next month. The National Alliance for Human Rights - which protested U.S. Border Patrol arrests of illegal residents in the Inland
Empire this past summer -- is spearheading efforts to counter the
group of civilian border-watchers it calls "domestic terrorists."
The Alliance's latest target includes volunteers who plan to man the
Arizona-Mexico border for illegal crossings during April.
"For the Latino community, this is particularly a slap in the face," said Armando Navarro, a UC Riverside professor and National Alliance coordinator. "For us not to respond would be a gross
error on our part, indicating the vulnerability of our community."
The coalition will meet in San Bernardino on Saturday to brainstorm ways to counter the Minuteman Project, a group of about 500 people who want to help federal officials patrol the border during April.
Saturday's meeting to stop the Minuteman Projectwill be an invitation-only event and will be closed to the press for security reasons, Navarro said.The goal of the Minuteman Project is to bring national attention to the nation's porous borders, according to its Web
site. "We will seal the border, but will not violate anyone's civil rights, and will not abuse anyone from any country," the Web site states. "By legal means we will surprise illegal immigrants on trails heading north. By legal means we will suggest that people sit and wait for
(Border Patrol) to come and pick them up."
The site says it is neutral on whether volunteers should carry firearms, "neither encouraging or discouraging the "open carry laws' of Arizona." Navarro said he believes the Minuteman Project will act like other militiamen who have patrolled the borders in recent
years, endangering the lives of immigrants.
"There have been threats to the lives of people being apprehended, reports in that area of killings since the year 2000, and exchanges of fire," Navarro said. "It's a very powder-keg situation that we are facing."A Minuteman Project representative could not be reached for comment
this week.A Border Patrol union representative said the
Minuteman volunteers are a group of well-intentioned people, with an important message, needlessly exposing themselves to danger and lawsuits. Someone could get hurt either because of an accident or lack of training, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Agents have been assaulted at 80 times in the early months of this fiscal year, a marked increase over past years, he said. It would be more effective, Bonner said, for volunteers to camp out on the steps of the Capitol and demand that funding be allotted for the 2,000 additional Border Patrol agents that have been promised in legislation each year for the next five years.
"The last thing we want is for them to get hurt,
when they are trying to make a statement about how open the borders are,"
Bonner said.
For information about Saturday's meeting, call
Armando Navarro at
(951) 827-1826.
Brenda Gazzar can be reached by e-mail
brenda.gazzar@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9355
Inland Empire Illegal Activists Protest Minute Man Project
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0, ... 73,00.html
You can e-mail your opinions to Armando Navarro at:
armando.navarro@ucr.edu
For information about Saturday's meeting, call
Armando Navarro at
(951) 827-1826.
Email reporter Brenda Gazzar at:
brenda.gazzar@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9355.
Latino activists target border watchers
U.S.-Mexico crossings to receive patrol scrutiny
throughout April
By Brenda Gazzar, Staff Writer
A network of largely Latino activists is taking on an armed, civilian
border-patrol operation set to launch next month. The National Alliance for Human Rights - which protested U.S. Border Patrol arrests of illegal residents in the Inland
Empire this past summer -- is spearheading efforts to counter the
group of civilian border-watchers it calls "domestic terrorists."
The Alliance's latest target includes volunteers who plan to man the
Arizona-Mexico border for illegal crossings during April.
"For the Latino community, this is particularly a slap in the face," said Armando Navarro, a UC Riverside professor and National Alliance coordinator. "For us not to respond would be a gross
error on our part, indicating the vulnerability of our community."
The coalition will meet in San Bernardino on Saturday to brainstorm ways to counter the Minuteman Project, a group of about 500 people who want to help federal officials patrol the border during April.
Saturday's meeting to stop the Minuteman Projectwill be an invitation-only event and will be closed to the press for security reasons, Navarro said.The goal of the Minuteman Project is to bring national attention to the nation's porous borders, according to its Web
site. "We will seal the border, but will not violate anyone's civil rights, and will not abuse anyone from any country," the Web site states. "By legal means we will surprise illegal immigrants on trails heading north. By legal means we will suggest that people sit and wait for
(Border Patrol) to come and pick them up."
The site says it is neutral on whether volunteers should carry firearms, "neither encouraging or discouraging the "open carry laws' of Arizona." Navarro said he believes the Minuteman Project will act like other militiamen who have patrolled the borders in recent
years, endangering the lives of immigrants.
"There have been threats to the lives of people being apprehended, reports in that area of killings since the year 2000, and exchanges of fire," Navarro said. "It's a very powder-keg situation that we are facing."A Minuteman Project representative could not be reached for comment
this week.A Border Patrol union representative said the
Minuteman volunteers are a group of well-intentioned people, with an important message, needlessly exposing themselves to danger and lawsuits. Someone could get hurt either because of an accident or lack of training, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Agents have been assaulted at 80 times in the early months of this fiscal year, a marked increase over past years, he said. It would be more effective, Bonner said, for volunteers to camp out on the steps of the Capitol and demand that funding be allotted for the 2,000 additional Border Patrol agents that have been promised in legislation each year for the next five years.
"The last thing we want is for them to get hurt,
when they are trying to make a statement about how open the borders are,"
Bonner said.
For information about Saturday's meeting, call
Armando Navarro at
(951) 827-1826.
Brenda Gazzar can be reached by e-mail
brenda.gazzar@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9355
