http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=14607

Posted: 4/3/2006 7:18:00 AM

NM border watchers find immediate work
Source: AP

COLUMBUS, N.M. -- It didn't take long for New Mexico's Minuteman volunteers to get their mission started after beginning patrols at sunset Saturday night.

New Mexico Minuteman director Bob Wright says the volunteers came across a group of immigrants trying to cross over from Mexico and immediately alerted the Border Patrol. He says they hadn't been on patrol more than 30 minutes.

Wright says 27 volunteers have spanned out along the border in southern New Mexico. The group plans to operate mostly near Columbus, about 75 miles west of El Paso, Texas.

The group will patrol the border over the next 30 days. Most of the volunteers are from Colorado and New Mexico but one traveled from Fort Wayne, Indiana.