Published: April 03, 2007 12:00 am

Minutemen step up efforts to guard nation's border

The Norman Transcript

Several Oklahomans are expected to be among the hundreds of volunteers who convene on the U.S.-Mexico border this month in search of people who are crossing the border illegally into the United States.

The Minutemen's third annual muster along the nation's Southwestern border is a symptom of American immigration that needs reform. The group will camp out along the border, sit up in lawn chairs and spotlight persons who they see coming across the border.

It's a 24-hour-a-day operation. The first one was in April of 2005 and was widely protested by human rights groups. The Minutemen are called vigilantes.

If nothing changes -- and there is no reason to suspect that it will -- they will do it again in October. They stop people who cross the border illegally and then call the proper authorities.

The Tulsa World, in an interview with the group's leader, reports Minutemen don't detain or arrest anyone. They lack such authority. They don't agree with granting amnesty to the immigrants already here, something many in Congress want.

The border operations are scheduled for 30 days in April and October and organizers expect about 3,500 to participate. They claim their activities have led to the apprehension of over 13,466 illegal entrants since October 2002, and have provided life-saving aid to over 286 illegal entrants.

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