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UPDATE: Minuteman speaks out in Leesburg
By Jana Renn
01/10/2007




Times-Mirror Staff Photo/AJ Maclean

Virginia Chapter Director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, George Taplin of Herndon discusses the consequences of illegal immigration during a meeting Tuesday evening in Leesburg.
About 15 people gathered in the lower level of Ida Lee Park Recreation Center on Tuesday night to hear a presentation by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of Virginia on illegal immigration.


George Taplin, director of the state chapter of the national organization, made the presentation, "The Effects of Illegal Aliens," explaining why it is important to combat illegal immigration and what residents can do to prevent the issue from becoming a problem in their neighborhoods.

He defined an illegal alien as anyone who comes into this country without proper documentation. It does not matter if they are from Central America, Mexico, Asia, Austrailia or any other country.

Taplin, a Herndon resident, formed the Virginia chapter in response to the Herndon Town Council's approval of a day labor center about a year ago. Taplin lives in a culturally diverse neighborhood and says he's not against immigration, just illegal immigration.

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Taplin moved to his neighborhood for a purpose. "I want my daughter to understand what other cultures are like," he said.

He listed several reasons to stop illegal immigration, including maintaining U.S. sovereignty and stopping imports of terrorists, drugs and gang members.

One way U.S. citizens can combat the effects of illegal immigration is to report anyone they suspect may be living in the country illegally to authorities. Taplin likened it to reporting someone he suspects is planning to break into a store, since both are crimes.

"Why wouldn't I report something that's suspicious?" he asked the crowd.

In Herndon, Taplin had 31 people living in the house next to his. He said they would let trash gather in their yard, hold parties in the middle of the night and smash beer bottles everywhere on the sidewalk.

When local law enforcement refused to intervene on the issue, Taplin stood on the public sidewalk and began taking pictures of the house and its residents. He said they soon moved away because they were likely illegals and could not use the U.S. legal system to stop him.

Another way to combat the effects of illegial immigration is by only voting for public officials that will enforce immigration laws and pass ordinances to keep businesses from hiring illegals.

The town council members who approved the day labor site in Herndon were voted out of office, and the new town council is working with the Minutemen group to make penalties stiffer for employers who hire illegal aliens, Taplin said. "The new elected officials are doing what we want," he said.

Taplin mentioned Hazleton, Pa., as a town that is enacting ordinances to combat the effects of illegal immigration. These include making sure the Town Manager verifies that every business that obtains a license in town does not hire illegal aliens.

With these ordinances, illegals will not be able to find work and will eventually go home. If they want to come back, they can do it the legal way and be eligible for employment. Taplin's organization states that the only reasons to support illegal immigration are to provide businesses with cheap labor, and to offer better lives to people living in difficult circumstances in other countries.

"We don't need cheap labor," he said.

Taplin suggested that anyone who takes a stand against illegal immigration is labeled as racist and bigoted, which is a misrepresentation.

He gave an account of a time last winter when he encountered a young Hispanic man outside in the cold holding a sign for a faith-based agency asking for labor. The man was only wearing a hooded sweatshirt to protect him from the cold. Taplin, not knowing if the worker was legal or not, went to a nearby 7-Eleven store and bought the man two cups of coffee to hold to warm up his hands.

A representative from the faith-based agency saw him put the sign down to hold the cups of coffee and became enraged and screamed at him to pick the sign back up and do his job.

The Minuteman organization, which began in the southwestern part of the U.S. to monitor illegals coming across the border, has a no-contact policy. They do not carry weapons, and they never touch anyone.

"All we do is observe and report," Taplin said.

Anyone who is associated with a hate group such as the Ku Klux Klan, is not permitted to join.

In fact, there are 289 documented cases of Minutemen saving lives of illegal aliens, Taplin said. If a Minuteman finds an illegal alien on the U.S. side of the border dying of thirst, the policy is to give him or her a bottle of water and call the border patrol to intervene.

At the end of the presentation, Taplin welcomed questions from the crowd.

When asked if there are any legal immigrants in his organization who speak out against those coming to the U.S. illegally, he said there are.

In fact, one of his friends who lived in Herndon is a legal citizen from El Salvador. His wife is in the process of becoming a citizen. He wanted to get involved, so Taplin had him go around as a spokesperson for the Hispanic community.

"He was threatened and told that if he didn't shut up, he wouldn't have much of a family left," Taplin said.

The friend has since moved his family away from Herndon. Some members of the audience questioned Taplin as to why he feels illegal aliens should be deported and not just made to pay taxes like U.S. citizens.

In response, Taplin mentioned that they are still a problem because they may not have proper immunizations to be in the U.S., and they don't know enough about American laws and culture to understand how to behave as law abiding members of the community.

Taplin said U.S. citizens cannot expect illegal aliens to come into the country and abide by its laws when they've already broken the law in the way they came in.

At the end of the meeting, a gentleman informed that crowd that an anti-illegal immigration group is at work in Loudoun. Its Web site is www.helpsaveloudoun.org , and it meets the third Monday of each month at the library in Cascades. There will be no January meeting, so the next meeting is Feb. 19.


Contact the reporter at jrenn@timespapers.com