Thread: New MM group join battle for the border

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJ ... 101506.htm

October 15, 2006

New group joins battle for border

Minuteman chapter targets area's illegals

By BRITTNEY BOOTH
Staff Writer
John James can't pinpoint the exact moment that triggered him to form a local chapter of the Minuteman Project. Instead, it was more like a growing sense of frustration.

Fed up with national leaders who have failed to seal the borders and tired of stories from Americans claiming their jobs went to illegal immigrants, the Pierson resident started the Northeast Central Florida Chapter of the Minuteman in August. The group covers Volusia, Flagler, Putnam, Brevard, Seminole and Lake counties.

James, 66, a retired engineer, acknowledges the chapter isn't going to stop illegal immigration. "The best we can do is make it tough for them to stay," he said, by reporting businesses that hire undocumented workers and lobbying local politicians to crack down on employers and landlords of illegal immigrants.

The group, which meets irregularly and conducts most of its business through e-mail, has about 17 members, James said.

"There's more than that that will come to the meeting but they are afraid of being branded vigilantes or subversives," James said.

Dressed in a plaid short-sleeve shirt, with silver-rimmed glasses and buzz-cut hair, James said the group aims to get politicians to honor the oath they took to protect the nation from the "invasion" of "illegals" he believes are responsible for bringing once-eradicated diseases and Central American criminal gangs to America's small towns.

He says he believes anti-immigration interest groups' assertions that there are between 20 and 30 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates the number at 12 million.

The group plans to gauge support for a local ordinance similar to one passed in Hazleton, Pa., last summer that suspends licenses of business that hire illegal immigrants and fines landlords who rent to them.

"It is illegal -- anyone who accommodates it or aids it," he said. "They are partners to the crime and that behavior doesn't need to be tolerated."

Around the country, other municipal governments have passed similar legislation, but the ordinances are being challenged in courts. Opponents argue they encourage discrimination against Hispanics.

Gregory Schell, an attorney with the Migrant Justice Project in Lake Worth, said landlords have no way of verifying tenants' citizenship, as lots of people in the country illegally can present fake documentation. He said such ordinances are more "symbolic" than effective.

So far, James hasn't received much of a response from local officials. "We've gotten a lot of 'I'll look into it' and 'we will get back to you,' " he said.

But Volusia County Councilwoman Joie Alexander said no one has approached the council about passing such legislation.

"I am not inclined personally to do it right now. I certainly would have to study all the ramifications of it," she said.

The local Minuteman chapter also plans to hinder undocumented workers from finding jobs here. They plan to begin developing "intelligence" about where local businesses are finding day laborers and hope to capture company trucks on videotape hiring workers and then turn the tape over to law enforcement officials.

Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said the agency encourages the public to report immigration violations.

"Obviously, our agents will take the information and take appropriate action," she said.

And if they don't, the local Minuteman chapter will, James said, by picketing homes of people the group suspects are employing illegals. They will also contact the company's insurance carrier and report its hiring practices in hopes the company will lose its coverage.

Marcos Crisanto, coordinator of Florida Farmworker Association Pierson office, said the organization opposes the Minuteman chapter's plans because immigrant laborers support Volusia County's economy and have helped the nation grow.

If successful, Crisanto said, the Minuteman's plans could cripple the economy of Pierson, where business owners depend on immigrant labor in the ferneries. Sixty percent of the town's 2,600 residents are Hispanic, according to 2000 Census data.

"People would go to other places. We don't think that will happen because there is support for the workers here," he said.

James knows his stances aren't popular in Pierson, and though no one has said anything to his face, he already feels uncomfortable entering the town's Mexican restaurants.

"I know for a fact I'm going to be something of a pariah there, OK, but like I said, what part of illegal don't they understand?" he said.

James said he has had confrontations with the Mexican immigrants before he started the chapter. But he's also had positive encounters, like the time his wife's car broke down on U.S. 17 in the rain and a Hispanic male who didn't speak English was the only one to stop and help.

James stresses the group is against illegal immigration, not against Latinos or immigrants, and will not tolerate racism. A background check is required for group members involved with field operations, he said.

"We have absolutely no problem with immigration but it has to be legal immigration," he said.

brittney.booth@news-jrnl.com

[/quote]
"There's more than that that will come to the meeting but they are afraid of being branded vigilantes or subversives," James said




If they are afraid of being branded a vigilante they have no business being a Minuteman, that is a badge of honor, not something to be afraid or ashamed of!

If they are afraid of being branded a vigilante they have no business being a Minuteman, that is a badge of honor, not something to be afraid or ashamed of!

I agree Nitty. That is BS! It is time to stand up and speak up! By cowering you are doing EXACTLY what they want you to do...