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Minutemen plan to watch border at Laredo

Web Posted: 08/21/2006 09:59 PM CDT

Mariano Castillo
Express-News Border Bureau

LAREDO — Adding even more eyes and ears to Border Patrol efforts to nab undocumented immigrants, the Minuteman Project hopes to bring hundreds of volunteers to this border region.
The Minuteman Project, a border-watch group, will conduct observations in this area for about 60 days beginning Sept. 11 — the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.


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Between 800 and 2,000 volunteers are hoped for, said Shannon McGauley, president of the Texas Minutemen, an activist group affiliated with the Minuteman Project.

The Minutemen said they will not detain anyone and instead will report suspicious activity to border agents.

"Operation Sovereignty," as the Minutemen call their mission, will not be as closely coordinated with the Border Patrol as the National Guard, which has had hundreds of its troops assigned to the area in the past month.


Reynaldo Garza, acting chief of the Border Patrol's Laredo Sector, said the Minutemen have reached out to his office to talk about their plans.

"We will definitely have those discussions with them for reasons of nothing more than officer safety and the safety of the Minutemen," Garza said. "Information that we receive from the public about any kind of smuggling activity is helpful to law enforcement."

The Sept. 11 start date was no coincidence, said Tim Bueler, a spokesman for Minutemen Project founder Jim Gilchrist.

"Sept. 11 represents the day our country was attacked by illegal aliens," Bueler said, referring to the expired visas the terrorists had.

Though none of the 9-11 terrorists entered the United States through the Mexican border, the idea is to remind people of security vulnerabilities, Bueler said.

"We want to take that day back and make it a time when we can secure America."

Gilchrist and McGauley will be getting more support Saturday in North Texas when Glenn Spencer, founder of the activist organization American Border Patrol, joins them for a fundraiser.

The Anti-Defamation League has flagged Spencer's organization as "virulently anti-Hispanic."

For the volunteers, Laredo presents other challenges, namely drug cartels that move narcotics through the area.

"The cartels have no idea what we're fixing to bring to Laredo," McGauley said.

Bueler was more adamant that his volunteers would face the "ultimate consequence" for Operation Sovereignty.

"We are patriots, we love our country and we're willing to die for what we believe in," he said.



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mcastillo@express-news.net