Thread: Minutemen 'Adopt' SoCal Freeway

Minutemen have been cleaning up trash left by illegals in the desert all along. Just one more example that Americans aren't afraid to work!

Minutemen 'Adopt' SoCal Freeway


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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 12, 2008

Filed at 10:59 a.m. ET

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The Minutemen anti-illegal immigration group is going from picketing to trash-picking on a strip of Southern California freeway.

State transit officials granted the group's San Diego chapter an Adopt-A-Highway stretch of Interstate 5 that includes the Border Patrol's traffic checkpoint near San Clemente, about 70 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The designation makes the chapter responsible for keeping the 2-mile strip of freeway clean.

''We'll be out there in dorky-looking vests, hard hats and goggles, picking up trash,'' San Diego chapter founder Jeff Schwilk said Friday.

Like other volunteer groups in the program around the country, the Minutemen have one sign identifying them on each side of the freeway.

Some critics of the Minutemen, whose activities include patrolling in search of illegal border crossers, said the designation ignores rules barring groups that advocate discrimination from participating in the Adopt-A-Highway program.

California Transportation Department spokesman Edward Cartagena said the Minutemen got the stretch of I-5 near the Border Patrol checkpoint purely by chance and that the group's application did not violate any rules.

Enrique Morones, president of the immigrant-rights group Border Angels, called the Minutemen's move a publicity ploy.

''They're desperate to get attention, even if it means sweeping the freeway,'' he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-M ... eeway.html

Caltrans grants a stretch of I-5 that includes a border patrol checkpoint to the foes of illegal immigration, a move some critics call "unfortunate."


Opponents of the adoption say Caltrans ignored its own rule barring groups that advocate discrimination

By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

January 12, 2008

SAN DIEGO -- The Knights of Columbus have adopted a highway. So have the Japanese American Citizens League, biker groups, Indian casinos and the International House of Pancakes.

Now add the San Diego Minutemen.

Caltrans has granted an Adopt-A-Highway stretch of Interstate 5 to the ardent foes of illegal immigration -- and not just any stretch. The two miles of freeway the Minutemen will be charged with beautifying include the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint near San Clemente.

"How great is that," Jeff Schwilk, the group's founder, told his members in an e-mail.

Critics disagreed, saying the California Department of Transportation ignored its own rule that bars groups that advocate violence or discrimination from participating in the program.

"The Adopt-A-Highway program was designed to allow organizations to show pride in the state of California . . . and it is unfortunate that the Minutemen, whose approach . . . includes advocating violence, have been allowed by Caltrans into the program," said Tina Malka, associate director of the San Diego branch of the Anti-Defamation League.

Schwilk denied Friday that his group advocates violence and said no member has ever been arrested for immigrant-related violence.

Caltrans spokesman Edward Cartagena said the Minutemen got the stretch of I-5 purely by chance. The group submitted its application in November, he added, and it was reviewed and found to comply with the rule. According to the agency's website, it bars "entities that advocate violence, violation of the law, or discrimination based upon race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry" and other factors.

"The Department will not discriminate against groups that otherwise meet the program criteria based on the fact that some members of the public might disagree with the particular group's agenda or reputation," Caltrans said in a prepared statement.

The group's two signs -- one on each side of the freeway -- went up in late December. Members have been given a safety course on how to clean the freeway. Their first cleanup day is set for next Saturday.

Schwilk said Caltrans rules bar demonstrations, and he and his crew would just be beautifying the roadway. "We'll be out there in dorky-looking vests, hard hats and goggles, picking up trash," he said. "We're a community activist group, so why wouldn't we take other steps to help our communities?"

Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, a San Diego-based immigrant rights group, questioned the Minutemen's motives and called Schwilk's move a publicity ploy.

"They're desperate to get attention, even if it means sweeping the freeway," he said.

The San Diego Minutemen operate mostly in north San Diego County, where members often demonstrate at day labor sites and trade accusations of violent behavior with anti-immigrant groups. Schwilk says the group has 600 members. Others say membership has dwindled to no more than 30.

A former Marine, Schwilk says on his website that he worked alongside hardworking Mexicans in a carwash for more than three years in the 1980s and that his best friend in school was half Mexican.

Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, congratulated Schwilk on his great freeway location. It's entirely fitting, he said, that a group like his that supports the border patrol's mission be given the area near the checkpoint.

In fact, he said, "The irony is killing me. . . . Why didn't I think of that?"

richard.marosi@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... ome-center

Near San Clemente, there is a freeway crossing sign (5-feet × 7-feet) warning of people attempting to run across this freeway. This is because there is a border crossing checkpoint on NB I-5 in this area, and people wishing to avoid the INS often attempt (stupidly) to run across the freeway. The unusual signs are a reminder of an era when San Diego County had by far the most freeway pedestrian deaths in the nation. In the 1980s, dozens of illegal aliens were killed or injured each year as they tried to cross the treacherous freeways near the U.S.-Mexico border. Recent efforts have reduced the death rate. There are a variety of factors: beefed-up law enforcement, a doubling of patrols at the border and increased public awareness. The problem reached its height in 1989, when 24 illegal aliens were killed on the freeways near the border. From 1985 to 1987, 128 died and 105 were injured. In 1992, Caltrans erected a special warning sign, and built 10- to 12-foot high median fences in the area. Since that time, the number of injuries and deaths has dropped. Part of this is due to Operation Gatekeeper, a joint operation that fortified walls between San Diego and Tijuana that moved the cross-border traffic to the east. There were none in 1997, the year the California Highway Patrol stopped keeping track. There were no pedestrian fatalities between 1998 and 2002, and there is currently talk that the sign has outlived its usefulness and should be taken down.

[b]Minutemen 'Adopt' SoCal Freeway
The Associated Press - 10 hours ago
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Minutemen anti-illegal immigration group is going from picketing to trash-picking on a strip of Southern California freeway. ...
Minutemen adopt a freeway Los Angeles Times
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SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Critics say California was wrong to let ardent foes of illegal immigration adopt a stretch of highway for cleanup near a U.S. border patrol checkpoint.

Under its Adopt-A-Highway program, CalTrans has granted responsibility for cleanup of two miles of Interstate 5 to the San Diego Minutemen, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

"How great is that," said Jeff Schwilk, the group's founder. Schwilk repeatedly has denied his group advocates violence and said Friday no member has been arrested for immigrant-related violence, the Times reported.

CalTrans said it would not discriminate against the Minutemen, whose signs went up on each side of the freeway last month near the U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint near San Clemente.

Critics, including the Border Angels, an immigrant rights group, condemned CalTrans for sanctioning the Minutemen and called Schwilk's move a publicity stunt.

The Knights of Columbus, biker groups, Indian casinos and the International House of Pancakes also have adopted stretches of highway under the CalTrans program.

Well, good for them.
When it gets down to it who cares, they are cleaning up the area! What's wrong with that? And if it's a publicity stunt as Enrique says, why doesn't he get his own portion of a road for his group to clean up?