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In Northeast, Minuteman Project finding few takers

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press Writer

September 21, 2005, 2:27 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Minuteman Project is bringing its lawn chairs and border-watching volunteers to the Northeast starting Oct. 1, but its quest to catch illegal immigrants has a small problem.

Co-founder Chris Simcox says simply, "People on the East Coast couldn't care less."

The civilian project has been highly visible on the Mexican border, and it set up similar if smaller groups in the Northwest, but Simcox says the Northeast has been the most challenging.

An organizational meeting on Long Island earlier this month already drew dozens of protesters.

"We've seen some aggressive opposition in the New York area," Simcox said during a phone interview. "It's a sign that terrorism is alive and well in this country."

In October, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will launch in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, but so far, no border residents are helping.

Simcox said the month-long project has about 250 volunteers, with about 40 people in New York. But they come from places like Connecticut, New York City and Long Island _ urban areas hours away.

"These are not people who live close to the border," Simcox said. And since most of the land along the border is privately owned, the group would need permission to operate.

With the low number of volunteers, the project can't have round-the-clock patrols. Simcox himself will spend most of his time on the southern border.

"We pull up in our trucks, set up lawn chairs and pull out the binoculars," Simcox said. "If we observe anything, we report it to the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. No contact, no taking the law into our own hands."

In Arizona, the site of the group's first project, Simcox said volunteers helped catch 335 immigrants.

Volunteers will be at observation posts at busy areas, such as the Champlain point of entry by the New York-Vermont border. They'll also be looking for smuggling, a busier local activity than illegal immigration. The Border Patrol said 134 criminal aliens have been caught since Oct. 1, 2004, around the Champlain point of entry in New York. But 2,165 pounds of marijuana have been seized.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said his agency doesn't endorse the expansion of Minuteman-style groups. President Bush has said he's opposed to "vigilantes."

But Simcox has toured the Northeast border area with the Border Patrol in recent weeks.

"It was alarming," he said. "You go and see roads (on the border) with a sign that says, 'Stop, don't enter.' To think some criminal will listen is naive at best."

October's project will give the group a presence in almost every state along the northern border, which is twice as long as the southern border but with about one-tenth of the Border Patrol presence.

Even some Indian reservations in the Northwest have let the project set up posts, Simcox says. But that's not working in the Northeast, though he says the group has approached all area reservations.

"They said, 'No, no, no. Stay out of our business."'

He can't quite explain the region's cool reaction.

"It's partly apathy. It's partly that people don't think it's a big deal. So what if somebody crosses the border? I don't know if it's politics or what."

But the Minuteman Project is coming just the same.