Thread: Minutemen to strike back

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_3777962

Minutemen to strike back
Cross-country caravan hopes to foster support
Jason Newell and Megan Blaney, Staff Writers
San Bernardino County Sun

On the heels of Monday's massive immigrant boycott, members of one high-profile group will fire up their RVs, cars and trucks today to build momentum for the other side.
The Minuteman Project will launch a cross-country caravan tour today in Los Angeles, hoping to stir national support for a crackdown at the border and spotlight the harmful effects of illegal immigration.

From the time the caravan speeds through the Inland Empire to when it rolls into Washington, D.C., on May 12, participants say they hope to have energized voters and enlisted more members to their cause.

The Minuteman Project represents the "people in America who are tired of excuses and stalling and political issues getting in the way of our sealing the borders and enforcing the law," said Lyman Stucky, a San Bernardino man who will be leading the caravan in his 1970 Mercury Cougar. "We are demanding that our hired employees our public servants enforce the law and do what they were sworn to do."

Organizers expect about 100 staff members and supporters to set off from Los Angeles, with some expected to complete the entire trip, some cutting their journeys short and others joining for stretches along the way.

The tour will wind through several Southern states en route to Capitol Hill, making stops in 12 cities along the way. Participants will join a rally Saturday near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where anti-illegal-immigration forces from across the nation plan to assemble for a protest against the president's border policy.

The caravan also plans stops in Phoenix; Albuquerque, N.M.; Abilene, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Greensboro, N.C.; and Richmond, Va.

Stucky, who will be leading the way in his flashy red-white-and-blue Cougar, dubbed "The Spirit of Allegiance," said he's taking the 3,000-mile trip because he strongly believes in the Minuteman mantra that the law should be upheld by elected officials.

The 48-year-old business consultant said he takes no issue with people who migrate to America and obtain citizenship through the appropriate channels.

"But when people come over the border and choose to retain all the ties to their original country, including a fierce loyalty and sending all the resources there, I'm wondering if they're really Americans at heart and why they're here," he said.

Minuteman Project officials have no illusions that they will be able to match the kind of turnout seen in Monday's rallies, when more than 1 million illegal immigrants and their supporters flooded streets across the country.

"Our power is not putting a million people on the street. Our power is putting 10 million people at the voting box," said Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director. "Their voice is accompanied by a lot of bodies, but our voice is accompanied by even more bodies who aren't going to go out in the street."

One supporter, Penny Magnotto of Upland, said she and a friend were planning to follow the caravan in their RV and visit seven additional states during their return to recruit members.

"We'll never get a million Americans out on the streets. You couldn't," said Magnotto, founder of the Minuteman spinoff Minutewomen on the Road. "But if one in 100 people that we meet up with kind of gets it and sees that we're nice family people, I will be thrilled."

Other local anti-illegal-immigration groups said they have no immediate plans for public demonstrations in the wake of Monday's boycott.

Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Chino-based nonprofit Friends of the Border Patrol, said the types of rallies organized by leaders of the Minuteman Project and other groups accomplish little more than stirring emotions.

"They're great publicity stunts, great fund-raising opportunities, but now it's time to start engaging in substance," Ramirez said. "The movement has to stop for a moment and think, `What is actually going to accomplish something?' "

His group, for example, has installed "freedom cameras" at the border, enabling volunteers and Border Patrol agents to monitor suspicious activity, he said.

Joseph Turner, executive director of the San Bernardino-based Save Our State, said he's focusing his energy on the success of a citywide initiative he wrote to crack down on illegal immigrants in San Bernardino.

The measure would ban the city from using tax dollars to set up day-labor centers, require officials to deny business permits to companies that hire illegal immigrants, and impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, among other things.

Turner submitted more than 3,100 signatures to the City Clerk's office last week, of which 2,216 must be valid. A ruling on the validity of the signatures is expected by Thursday.

As for protests, Turner said the million demonstrators who flooded the nation's cities on Monday hurt their own cause more than anything he could have come up with.

"The greatest thing that could ever happen is for them to start rallying like they have," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 37074.html

May 3, 2006, 5:44AM

Border Patrol Group Seeks More Enforcement
By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The Minuteman Project civilian border patrol group planned to kick off a 12-city tour Wednesday to build support for its get-tough border stance in the wake of pro-immigant rallies around the country.

Organizers said they will use the caravan, which is scheduled to finish on Capitol Hill, to mobilize voters and recruit members. The group is made up of volunteers who patrol the border and strongly oppose illegal immigration.

The group hopes to counter the impact made by the more than 1 million illegal immigrants and their supporters who took to the nation's streets earlier this week. Project officials acknowledged, however, that they would have a hard time mustering the same kind of numbers for a rally of their own. Demonstrations by the Minuteman Project on Monday were scattered and small, often numbering fewer than 100 people per city.

"Our power is not putting a million people on the street, our power is putting 10 million people at the voting box," said Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director. "Their voice is accompanied by a lot of bodies, but our voice is accompanied by even more bodies who aren't going to go out in the street."

The caravan is scheduled to leave from Los Angeles and arrive on Capitol Hill for a May 12 rally as senators rush to pass an immigration reform bill before a Memorial Day deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Federal lawmakers must then reconcile the Senate bill _ which will likely include a guest worker program and a potential path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants _ with a House bill that would criminalize them.

The caravan will include about 100 staff members and supporters, said Eichler. It will stop in President Bush's vacation haven of Crawford, Texas, as well as in Phoenix, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Abilene, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Montgomery, Ala.; Atlanta; and Richmond, Va.

One supporter, Penny Magnotto of Upland, Calif., said she and a friend were planning to follow the caravan in their RV and visit seven additional states on their return to recruit more members.

"If one in 100 people that we meet up with kind of get it and see that we're nice family people I will be thrilled," said Magnotto, founder of the Minuteman spin-off Minutewomen on the Road.

every time I think of that caravan I can't help but think about the price of gas!

what would be great is if these heroes of America could be greated by a parade. This could probably be very easy to do over the radio

I supported the Minutemen before they ever made it to the border and was very happy about the way the patrol turned out.