Thread: Police Keep Close Eye On Border Vigilantes

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Police Keep Close Eye On Border Vigilantes
Vigilantes Spark Protests From Civil Rights Groups

POSTED: 3:48 pm PDT July 15, 2005
UPDATED: 5:28 pm PDT July 15, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- A group of volunteers that plan to start monitoring the San Diego County-Mexico border this weekend -- and their foes -- will not be allowed to commit vigilante or racial violence, authorities said Friday.




Participants in the grassroots project "Operation Border Watch" must limit their involvement to "eyes and ears and talking," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender warned.

"If there's any violation of the law ... on either side of this issue, law enforcement will, in fact, take action," Kolender said during a news conference.

Also attending the midmorning briefing at the sheriff's Kearny Mesa headquarters were officials with the U.S. Border Patrol and the Chula Vista and National City police departments.

In recent weeks, preparations for the civilian immigration-control effort have sparked protests from civil rights groups, as did similar endeavors conducted in Arizona this year by a group called the Minutemen.

Opponents called the self-appointed border enforcers -- most of whom carry guns -- dangerous vigilantes and bigots.

The monitors say their goal is to help enforce immigration laws and that they carry firearms strictly for self-defense.

Along with law enforcement agencies, immigrant-advocacy groups have promised to send observers to the county's arid southern reaches to keep an eye on the volunteer border watchers.

"If there's any violation of the law ... on either side of this issue, law enforcement will, in fact, take action," Kolender said during a news conference.

WOW...I sure hope he means that and arrests all those illegal aliens coming across the border illegally "violating the law".

For once, I am hopeful, how about you all?

Opponents called the self-appointed border enforcers -- most of whom carry guns -- dangerous vigilantes and bigots.

Do you think Mexico will pick up this stpru and print it in their newspapers, you know, that there are "dangerous vigilantes and bigots" here in the US ready to eat illegal aliens...maybe that will scare some back?

Well....one can always hope, eh?

I think he's talking about the border watchers and their foes.

It will business as usual for the illegal border crossers.

Oh sure.....CountFloyd....silly me to think Law Enforcement would be interested in catching them some illegal aliens with drugs up their hineys.

Hey everyone, I'm heading to the civilian patrols in Campo, CA on Monday and Tuesday. Campo is in an area know for drug trafficking more than migrant crossings. I'll be videotaping and taking lots of pictures. I'll let you know how it went. I think the CA Minuteman group that is there now is pretty small. The bigger citizen patrols will be in Sept. and Oct. when it's not so damn hot. It's 114 degrees there right now. Counter protesters should outnumber the CA Minuteman. These are the dangerous ones and the police need to keep them seperated. I don't know how that's going to work out. These counter protesters are so crazy.

I'm also going to investigate the migrant encampments in some of the local San Diego canyons.

Thanks for the news WatchDog. Please be careful!! You will be in a group, right? Safety in numbers, you know.

Take Care and look forward to seeing your pics when you return!!

TheWatchdog,
Be careful and thank you for helping to protect our border. Maybe with the police there, less illegal invaders will enter.

JP...the illegals like the police. They give them a ride, take them to the station, get them a hearing, and then release them into America.

Update on the protest.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... order.html

Border watch and protest peaceful


Gathering also draws lawmen and journalists
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 17, 2005

The tiny border community of Campo saw more excitement yesterday than it probably has in years.

Up to two dozen anti-illegal immigration activists, some of them armed, came to town to stage a border watch, followed by protesters, legal observers, journalists and extra law enforcement brought in to keep the peace.

Woody Conklin, 67, watched bemusedly from his front yard as about 100 protesters demonstrated against the Minutemen in a vacant lot across from his house.
"We don't get much excitement up here," he said.

The protesters far outnumbered the border watchers in this dusty, unincorporated town of 1,200, as did news media and perhaps law enforcement. About 25 people participated in the border watch, according to event organizer Jim Chase, 58, of Oceanside.

He said he hoped more people would join him over the next three weeks.

Aside from a few shouting matches between participants and protesters, the day was peaceful enough, according to the Sheriff's Department, which brought in additional deputies as backup. Chase, who participated in the Minuteman Project in Arizona in April but cut ties with its leadership afterward due to personal disagreements, has alternately titled his offshoot project United States Border Patrol Auxiliary, Border Watch and California Minutemen.

Yesterday morning, as he signed up volunteers outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars post, he handed out badges with "United States Border Patrol Auxiliary" scratched out, and "California MM" handwritten in black marker.

After VFW management asked Chase to leave for fear of disrupting a weekend meeting and steak fry, Chase held court with reporters under the shade of an oak tree near the border fence, joined by a half-dozen volunteers.

"I am not looking for trouble, I am just trying to get the border secured," said Chase, who has been criticized for suggesting at one time that volunteers bring baseball bats and machetes in addition to sunscreen.

He has also encouraged bringing firearms. Yesterday, he had a stun gun in his car.

Chase initially announced the event in late spring, then declared he was going "covert." He changed his mind and began calling media outlets this week.

"I was trying to avoid the Che Guevara communists and the anarchists," the retired postal worker said, referring to some protesters. "I was trying to be covert because I didn't want those people here."

But protesters turned out in force, with some from as far away as Los Angeles joining a large contingent from San Diego. Some planned to stay the weekend. Holding a sign that read "Nobody is illegal," cousins Rene Lopez and Matias Rico, both 55, said they came from Chula Vista.

"We think these Minutemen are bullies," Lopez, an aerospace engineer, said. "The government should patrol the border, not vigilantes."

According to sheriff's deputies, the protest was peaceful, although VFW members and guests complained that some marchers called them racists, apparently taunting them for allowing Chase to set up there.

Jane Hamilton, 60, said it hurt her feelings.

"We live next to the border," said Hamilton, who saidshe sometimes fears for her safety and supports the border watchers. "Some of my dearest people are of different races." The VFW post's leadership has tried to distance itself from Chase, saying he is only being allowed to use the facility because he is a member.

Many volunteers were former Minuteman participants from Arizona, including one retiree who drove 1,000 miles from Colorado. But there were a few newcomers, including great-grandmother Sally Plata from El Cajon, who heard about the event on television.

Plata criticized the federal government's criticism of self-appointed border guards.

"How dare (President Bush) call them vigilantes, when they are trying to stop what shouldn't be happening in the first place?" she said.

As of 8 p.m., border watchers had reported no illegal border crossers to the Border Patrol, an agency spokesman said. Chase did call the agency Friday night when he apparently felt threatened by a protester, said Lt. Bill Hogue of the Sheriff's Department, which responded. Deputies found no signs of a disturbance.

"Different people have different perceptions of threat," Hogue said. "The only armed people I've seen out here, besides law enforcement, are Mr. Chase's followers."

As for some locals, they saw little value in the border watch event, save for entertainment.

"I think we have enough Border Patrol people here," said Conklin, who lives down the street from the agency's Campo station. "They have sensors and all sorts of equipment all over the place. We don't need all these people running around setting off detectors."

GOOG JOB GUYS AND GALS!!

We support your Border Watch Activities 100%

GO VFW!!