Thread: Reconquistas, screwball U.S. Rep. protest Minutemen in Texas

http://www.news8austin.com/content/head ... 15&SecID=2

Mexican Independence Day parade becomes immigration protest
Updated: 9/18/2005 11:11 AM
By: News 8 Austin Staff

Temperatures and tempers flared at a parade in downtown Austin on Saturday afternoon.

The Mexican Independence Day parade is an annual event sponsored by Texas United Latino Artists.

But this year, protestors made the parade less about independence and more about immigration. Hundreds showed up to march.

Some groups also protested the Minuteman Project, a civilian organization whose members patrol the United States' border and report illegal immigration to authorities.

"You see, it's a free country. We have the right to say what feel and what we think, but there is a step were it goes beyond saying what we feel and taking guns in our hands and going to the border and intimidating people. That's what we're saying. We will not allow this," Julieta Garibay, who opposes the Minutemen, said.

Parade-goers and protesters were met with supporters of the Minutemen, a civilian border patrol group.

About 50 people who called themselves Texans for Freedom countered the protest and voiced their support for the Minutemen.

"The Minutemen are doing what our government refuses to do, what they've not been allowed to do. We need to close the borders. If there's a war on terrorism, why are our borders open? If our government is not going to close the borders, that leaves it up to us - the civilians - to do what our government refuses to do," Minuteman supporter Steve Skidmore said.

Department of Public Safety troopers had to separate shouting matches between the two groups, but no arrests were reported.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, was also a part of the parade down Congress to the Capitol. He avoided the Texans for Freedom crowd, but later compared the Minutemen’s efforts to the KKK at the rally.

"Some say these Minutemen are new to Texas. That's not really true. It's just that years ago they used to wear white sheets," he said.

Doggett also said U.S. border patrol officers are capable of securing the borders of the country, and amateur vigilantes who ignore civil rights only hamper law enforcement efforts.


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Listen to this clown: http://www.americanpatrol.com/

If the Border Patrol is capable of doing this job then why do we have 30 to 50 illegals in this country?????

This is utter nonsense.

RR

Here is anotehr article on the same thing


http://www.dailytexanonline.com

Clash at Capitol
Pro- and anti-immigration forces face each other Saturday
By Kathy Adams and Ivonne Snavely


Media Credit: Meg Loucks
Dora Hidalgo of Corpus Christi, president of the South Texas Amigos de Mexico, marches to the Capitol with approximately 2,000 protestors to rally against the Minuteman and support immigration reform Saturday afternoon.


Hundreds of marchers supporting immigrant rights turned Austin's sixth annual Mexican Independence Day parade into a political statement Saturday.

Some marchers engaged in a shouting match with about 40 demonstrators supporting the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, volunteers helping identify and deter illegal immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. This event followed a similar confrontation on the UT campus Friday between Minutemen supporters and students.

Student organizers of Saturday's rally advocated education and equal protection for immigrants and protested against the formation of Minuteman chapters in Texas.

The former president of the Minutemen's first chapter in Goliad resigned last week. He warned that the Texas chapter's actions on the border could result in violence, the Austin American-Statesman reported Monday.

Several UT students participated in the march, including members of the Longhorn League of United Latin American Citizens, who helped organize it. The marchers wore T-shirts and carried posters opposing the Arizona-based Minutemen.

[b]The pro-Minutemen demonstrators at the Capitol Saturday were against illegal immigration, and a minority were against all Mexican immigration.

"I want immigration done legally for the honest and hardworking immigrants. I don't agree with free-for-all immigration," said Tom Neil, a contractor from San Antonio who attended the protest with his 8-year-old son.

Neil said he would volunteer for the Minutemen if the need arose, a sentiment shared by many protestors. Demonstrators said the inability of the federal government to secure the borders has forced citizens to act.[/url]

State troopers kept the Minutemen supporters separate from the marchers because they did not have a permit to rally at the Capitol, according to Capt. Raul Vargas, who is in charge of Capitol security. No arrests or violence occurred.

State Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who was booed by Minutemen supporters as he approached the Capitol, said immigrants add strength to Texas and "amateur vigilantes" have no place here.

"The Minutemen are not new," he said. "Years ago they just used to wear white sheets."

Latino Leadership Council Co-Director Mary Gonzalez, an ethnic studies senior who helped organize the rally, said rallying with a diverse crowd was one of the most moving experiences of her life.

"The issue has not just become a Latino community issue but everyone has become concerned about human dignity," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday held an hour-long legal observer training on the UT campus. The ACLU has been training observers to monitor and document the Minutemen's activities in order to prevent immigrant abuses. No incidents of violence toward immigrants have been reported so far, but the Minutemen have been accused of harassment and illegal detainment along the border.

The Minutemen claim they carry weapons for self-defense purposes and have a policy of nonviolence, according to the group's Web site.

The ACLU fears the Minutemen project has racist sentiments and believes it has great potential for violence and human rights violations, according to Ray Ybarra, an ACLU Racial Justice Fellow. Ybarra spoke at the University on Friday, and showed his documentary, which details his experience as a legal observer of the Minutemen in April.

"Their true motives are hatred and fear," said Ybarra. "We want to get students involved with the response against the Minutemen for human dignity."

The ACLU's guide for legal observers states that observers' role is to deter abuses and document illegal activity for possible lawsuits and arrests. Legal observers do not carry weapons, do not engage in political conversation with Minutemen and do not tell immigrants or law enforcement to take action, Ybarra said.

Outside of Friday's legal observer training, members of the Young Conservatives of Texas set up an unofficial Minutemen recruiting station that drew heated debate from bystanders. They said the Minutmen are making a positive political statement to the federal government.

"The border patrol is undermined, and the government is not helping," said Samuel Cooke, a group member and radio-television-film sophomore.

Some students who passed by the recruiting table Friday said they were alarmed and felt threatened by the YCT's recruiting.

Raja Swamy, an anthropology graduate student from India, said the YCT has the right to speak and hand out flyers, but that recruiting is threatening because they "speak about people of color as a threat."

The YCT recognizes that there are some racists and vigilantes involved with the organization and in the Minutemen project, said Randy Samuelson, YCT state chairman and former UT student.

"We run out racist members," he said. "Illegal immigrants come here for economic freedom, and we don't want to infringe upon that American dream. But there are terrorists, economic ramifications and undocumented citizens."

Ybarra will be speaking about the Minutemen and legal observers Wednesday at the UT School of Law at 4 p.m. He said the event is open to debate with Minutemen supporters.

Originally Posted by RoadRunner

If the Border Patrol is capable of doing this job then why do we have 30 to 50 illegals in this country?????

This is utter nonsense.

RR

30 to 50? I wish it was only that many. Just razzing you.

Doggett also said U.S. border patrol officers are capable of securing the borders of the country, and amateur vigilantes who ignore civil rights only hamper law enforcement efforts.

I thing Rep. Doggett should be referred to as Rep. Dogmanure from now on.

"We run out racist members," he said. "Illegal immigrants come here for economic freedom, and we don't want to infringe upon that American dream. But there are terrorists, economic ramifications and undocumented citizens."

For whatever reason they come they are ILLEGAL. Don't let that one little word obfuscate the issue. Some of these creeps just literally drip sympathy for lawbreakers of every ilk. Really Really sick of this crap.

But there are terrorists, economic ramifications and undocumented citizens."

That should read but THEY ARE TERRORISTS....they are economic terrorists AND they are also attempting to abrogate the constitutional rights of AMERICAN CITIZENS thru violence. If THAT isn't enough....please...tell me what is.???

RR