Thread: MMP Find First Group

Minutemen watch for migrants
Civilians keep eyes on border

Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Apr. 3, 2005 12:00 AM

DOUGLAS - John Lehmann stood near rusty railroad tracks overlooking an expanse of U.S.-Mexican border, separated only by five strands of barbed wire fencing.

"I just can't get over that trail system," he said, pointing toward dozens of well-worn paths forged throughout the years by undocumented immigrants bound for the United States via Arizona's open desert. "It's unbelievable."

Lehmann, a New Yorker who headed down to the Arizona desert to join a group of self-appointed border police known as the Minuteman Project, spent the first shift of patrols watching the international line, a 9mm handgun on his hip. Every few hundred yards along Borderline Road, volunteers set up camp in small groups, flying American flags and watching for undocumented immigrants crossing the border.

Legal observers with the American Civil Liberties Union cruised the dirt road and tracked volunteers, who arrived in trucks with camper shells and compact rental cars. U.S. Border Patrol vehicles parked pointed toward Mexico, and officials said agents were doing business as usual.

"They're out there of their own volition," said Andy Adame, an agency spokesman. "We're going to try and work around them without disrupting our operation."

The Border Patrol tried to discourage volunteers from turning out for the Minuteman Project, a controversial, Internet-based recruiting effort that organizers said has brought 480 volunteers from across the country to Cochise County, although the number of volunteers could not be independently verified.

The project has angered and concerned some local residents but has been well received by others who live in this county of 122,000, an epicenter for illegal immigration. Roughly one in five of the 1.1 million undocumented immigrants caught crossing the Southwest border last year were arrested in Cochise County.

"I want this border issue solved, but I don't want these guys out here, acting up and playing Wyatt Earp," said Mike Anderson, 51, a Bisbee resident who stood on the shoulder of Arizona 80, holding a sign that read: "Minutemen: Angry White Men With Nothing Better To Do."

"It's time for them to disarm and return peaceably to their homes," he said.

Lehmann, a 46-year-old corrections sergeant, isn't going anywhere. He plans to return to the same spot on Borderline Road each morning for the next two weeks, to watch the border with another volunteer, 22-year-old Joel Segal.

Segal, who drove out from Santa Fe, sat and watched the Mexican side of the border through pocket-sized binoculars and tracked a group of about 15 people dressed in black who showed no signs of heading toward the border.

"People have this impression we were a paramilitary group coming here to stir up trouble. It's so hard to convince them that . . . we're peaceful," he said. "Obviously, we're armed, but that's just a part of us being out here. That doesn't mean that we're aggressive. That doesn't mean that we're violent. This is democracy in action. This is freedom of speech."

A few miles from where the group patrolled, Mary Alice Walker, 68, and her husband tended their front yard, guarded by a Rottweiler. The couple has lived in a white house with blue trim within a quarter-mile of the border for more than 37 years and said they typically see hundreds of undocumented immigrants in a week.

The neighborhood dogs normally bark all night, she said, but last night it was so quiet that her husband couldn't sleep. The Border Patrol does what it can, she said, "but they're just too overwhelmed. When there's only one or two, they can't catch them all."

Adame, of the Border Patrol, said the project reported its first group of undocumented immigrants, totaling 18 people, about 4 p.m. Saturday near Borderline Road.

"They just kind of kept an eye on them and pointed a finger and said, 'There they are.' "

LINK to articlel

...join a group of self-appointed border police known as the Minuteman Project,

Legal observers with the American Civil Liberties Union...


The bias in these articles is so evident, that is sickening. The good thing is, the majority of Americans believe in our cause.

Originally Posted by occutegirl said Susan Carroll, Republic Tucson Bureau, Apr. 3

...Legal observers with the American Civil Liberties Union cruised the dirt road and tracked volunteers...

I wonder just whose civil rights the ACLU is protecting. It damn sure doesn't feel like theyre protecting mine. If an ordinary decent shooting war begins, they'll be considered collaborators -- enemies of the state. That alone almost makes it worth while.

Jim Gilcrest has a body guard because of the number of death threats he has received. Not a word from the ACLU

I wonder how many illegals the ACLU turned in to the Border Patrol?

Those nitwits are more concerned about legal, American citizens than
a bunch of law breakers.

"Those nitwits (ACLU) are more concerned about legal, American citizens than
a buch of law breakers."

Yes, they are. Illegals are part of the plan, and American law abiding citizens are in the way.

Go Minutemen!

BTW, Dobbs poll is still active!!

Do you support the goals of the Minuteman Project?
Yes 89% 7155 votes
No 11% 885 votes

Total: 8040 votes

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

I have posted pictures of MMP under the pictures section here.