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Minuteman project wraps up on northern border
One month of patrol produces one citation, some public outcry



JON GAMBRELL
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD


A boyfriend's misplaced desire to make an international call gave the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps its only arrest during its monthlong watch of Whatcom County's border with Canada.

"He hopped across the ditch to call his girlfriend and say 'Hey, I'm in Canada,'" said Joe Giuliano, U.S. Border Patrol deputy chief of the Blaine sector.

A Minuteman volunteer watching the man made a quick phone call of his own, and border agents swept in to issue a citation.
After 31 days on the northern border in October, the Minutemen ended their watch, saying they brought attention to border protection issues.

"No one got hurt and everyone got to come up to the border and look for anything unusual," said Tom Williams, a Deming resident who is the chapter leader of the Washington Minutemen Detachment.
Williams said 31 volunteers manned spots along the border between Blaine and Sumas.

As they watched the border, others watched the Minutemen.
Protesters held rallies and decried the group as racist, saying the Minutemen targeted Hispanic illegal immigrants when they watched the southern border earlier this year. The Bellingham and Blaine city councils passed resolutions in opposition to the Minutemen's patrol.

"They're saying we're anti-American because we're trying to work within our democratic system," said Sharon Monteiro, an organizer for the Minuteman opposition. "If people think the only way to make a political statement is to pick up a gun, we're in the wrong century. We are past that time."

Minuteman members with state concealed-weapons permits were allowed to carry guns while watching the border, but rifles and shotguns were prohibited, organizers said.

Responding to concerns, Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo and others spent days around the border talking to the Minuteman volunteers. He said the Sheriff's Office received "no specific complaints" about the volunteers committing any crimes.

"We made it clear if we saw anything that looked like a violation of state law, we'd sweep in," Elfo said. "We observed no wrongdoing on their part."
The Border Patrol received only two phone calls from the Minutemen on watch, one of which snared the cell-phone-wielding boyfriend.
"You have to ask, is he an evildoer or just trying to get a call through?" Williams said.

The Minuteman volunteers might conduct another patrol effort in April.
In the end, Williams said the Minutemen's border watch got what the group wanted: more attention to border security issues. Just last week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he wants to add 1,500 new agents to the Border Patrol and build more fences across the border - a move Williams applauded.

"We haven't seen anything from Congress or the president yet," he said. "Homeland Security is getting its assets together to get more agents on the ground. That's reassuring.

"We Minutemen know the answer is with the Border Patrol. It's not us guys sitting on our pickup trucks with our wives drinking coffee."