http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/121580

Opinion
Minutemen alerted lawmakers to border issues
Our view: The much-criticized group showed the nation illegal immigration is not just a Southwestern problem
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.26.2006
According to the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps training manual, civilian volunteer border watchers aren't allowed to start fires to stay warm while on the line.

But the manual doesn't say anything about lighting fires under politicians. That's something the Minutemen have done with great success.
As the Minutemen prepare to start a monthlong campaign of watching for illegal entrants along the border, they can take comfort in knowing they've prompted lawmakers across the country to address the issue of illegal immigration.

A few highlights:

● The Arizona Legislature is dealing with about 50 bills concerning the border and illegal immigration, more on that topic than in any other session in Arizona history, the Star reported Tuesday.

● In Congress, the Senate will begin a two-week debate Monday on immigration while considering several bills to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. The House passed an enforcement bill in December.

● The National Governors Association in February urged the Bush administration and Congress to curb illegal immigration. Notably, the governors of Utah, Missouri, Tennessee and Vermont, none of them on the Mexican border, said entrants are costing their states millions.
The Minutemen aren't entirely responsible for this increase in attention: The illegal immigration issue has been smoldering for years.

But the Minutemen certainly played a part, drawing national attention to border problems.

"We helped propel the issue into the limelight," said Connie Hair, a spokeswoman for the Minutemen based in Arlington, Va. "Our message that the borders are wide open resonated with people and got them worked up."

When the Minutemen held their first patrol last April, the group was called a bunch of vigilantes. Others said they had no business patrolling the border — that's what the Border Patrol is for. They were called racist.
But whether you're a fan or a critic, there's no denying that the Minutemen helped turn a regional issue into a national one.

They garnered attention from the biggest media outlets in the country — television and print — and columnists and talk shows all weighed in on these people sitting in the desert with binoculars.

The Minutemen still have detractors. Cecelia Muñoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza, said the group has contributed to an "atmosphere of ignorance and disrespect" toward immigrants in the United States.

David Spener, a sociologist at Trinity University in San Antonio, said the Minuteman patrols do very little in the way catching illegal entrants.

"What they are able to do," Spener said in Tuesday's Star, "is get certain people in the political sector upset."

The Minutemen aren't the most popular group around. But after conducting patrols in Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Washington state, New York and New Hampshire, the group has shown it's not an out-of-control band of vigilantes. Its volunteers, other than in a couple of minor incidents, follow the law.

We may not agree with their agenda or their tactics or even if what they are doing is worthwhile. In our April 24, 2005, editorial, we said that a series of reforms was the answer to the problem of illegal immigration, not a media event.

If the Minutemen's goal was to raise awareness of border issues, we have to say they've succeeded.

Now it's time for hard work and compromise. Time for the Legislature to weed through its barrage of bills and for Congress to approve a comprehensive, multi-tiered approach that includes border security, a guest-worker program and employer requirements.