Dear Team America,

"Any government official that seeks to thwart the law is
derelict in his duty to the American people...."

Team, read Congressman Tancredo's press release. Also see 2
Washington Times articles for reference.

At the bottom of this email is the contact info for Border
Patrol agencies, DHS, your congressional members, and more.
Please send notes and make calls to thank the Border Patrol.
Contact government agencies to demand the resignation of Michael
Nicely, Agent-in-Charge of the Tucson Sector of the Border
Patrol.

For the Cause, Linda

PS -- And please remember to forward this to your lists and post
on all news sites. This vendetta by our government to undermine
the success of the Minutemen Project clearly puts the American
people in danger. Ask your congressional members to stand with
Tom Tancredo and the American people. Demand an investigation.
We want to know who gave Michael Nicely the order for the Border
Patrol to stand down.

PPS -- I'll add more news on this to our site as it comes in. If
you want to post your comment on the Team America website see:
http://www.teamamericapac.org/form-ta-mboard.shtml

----------

Tancredo Calls for Border Official to Resign
Eight Congressmen Sign Tancredo's Letter to DHS Secretary
Chertoff

From the Office of Congressman Tom Tancredo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) called for
the resignation of Michael Nicely, Agent-in-Charge of the Tucson
Sector of the Border Patrol, after a dozen Border Patrol agents
confirmed that he ordered them to reduce the apprehension of
illegal aliens crossing the border.

Eight Congressmen signed Tancredo's letter to Department of
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff calling for
Nicely's resignation. Ten Congressmen signed a separate letter
by Tancredo which calls for the House Judiciary Committee to
initiate an investigation into the "stand down" orders.

"Any government official that seeks to thwart the law is
derelict in his duty to the American people. Mr. Nicely must
take responsibility for his actions and turn over his post to
someone who is willing to enforce the law," said Tancredo.

A dozen Border Patrol agents told the Washington Times that they
had been instructed to "stand down" from arresting illegal
aliens near where Minutemen protestors had patrolled in April.
The agents understood that an increase in arrests would prove
the effectiveness of extra manpower on the border and would
credit the Minutemen's approach. Several sources, including the
President of the National Border Patrol Council, have confirmed
the newspaper report.

Tancredo called for a Congressional investigation into the
incident. "In a post-9/11 world, it is critical that we send the
message that we're serious about border security. A
Congressional investigation will get to the bottom of these
troubling and dangerous practices," said Tancredo.

"If Mr. Nicely was acting on orders from officials higher up in
the border bureaucracy, more heads should roll," concluded
Tancredo. "Congress needs to exercise more active oversight of
our border security."

http://www.teamamericapac.org/ta-ttpr-050520-
borderofficialresign.shtml

----------

The Washington Times
Editorial

Border Insecurity, Bureaucratic Foolishness

When the Minutemen first announced their vigil on a 23-mile
stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border, critics from all sides
said that it's a job best left to "the professionals." In this
case, the professionals comprise the Border Patrol agency. But
what happens when "the professionals" are ordered not to do
their jobs? That's the word that Jerry Seper of The Washington
Times heard from numerous Border Patrol agents, who asked to
remain anonymous.

According to this newspaper's front-page story yesterday, "U.S.
Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal
aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters
patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there
would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers."
Click to Visit

Border Patrol officials here in Washington are denying this --
but, then, they've also denied other accounts coming from their
agents in the field. Rep. Tom Tancredo has also heard from
"credible sources" within the Border Patrol of the alleged
order, giving congressional weight to Mr. Seper's report. "This
is another example of decisions being made at the highest levels
of the Border Patrol that are hurting morale and helping to rot
the agency from within," Mr. Tancredo said.

From the very beginning of Project Minuteman, which was
organized by Arizonian Chris Simcox, official word from Border
Patrol has been condemnatory. First, the agency said, the
Minutemen would only aggravate problems with illegal aliens
flooding across the border and lead to violent clashes. When
that didn't happen, the Border Patrol said the Minutemen's
efforts were negligible and might be worsening the situation.
But the facts didn't support this claim. It didn't help that
President Bush labeled them "vigilantes," when in fact none of
the Minutemen were breaking any laws.

Unofficially, Border Patrol agents were appreciative of the
Minutemen and gave them a "thumbs up," according to Mr. Simcox,
who has spoken with many agents. Many credited the Minutemen
with a dramatic drop in the flow of illegal aliens along their
stretch of border, which went form an average of 500 a day to
less than 15 a day. In other words, the illegals had stopped
trying to cross over at that section of the border. At a House
Government Reform Committee hearing Thursday, U.S. Customs and
Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner praised the
Minutemen, saying that they had made a difference.

But for whatever reason Border Patrol officials have viewed the
Minuteman Project as some kind of competitor. Last week, for
instance, on the order of Tucson Sector Chief Michael Nicely,
Border Patrol agents denied Mr. Simcox entry to a Department of
Homeland Security press conference in Arizona. It's perhaps not
too surprising that Mr. Nicely has been an outspoken critic of
the Minuteman Project. We'd like to think that a sector chief
wouldn't allow personal issues to influence his job -- but how
else can one make sense of his order, if not as some vendetta
against Mr. Simcox? After all, Mr. Simcox is apparently good
enough to testify before Congress, as he did Thursday.

Now, as Mr. Seper reported, more than a dozen agents said their
supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station "made it clear that
arrests were 'not to go up' along the 23-mile stretch." It "was
clear to everyone here what was being said and why. The
apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman
volunteers left. It was as simple as that," one veteran agent
said.

It seems as if Border Patrol supervisors feel it is more
important to discredit the Minutemen than it is to do their job.
What could account for this? Perhaps some in the Border Patrol
bureaucracy are more concerned about their own survival than
they are about performing their jobs. Discrediting the effective
work of the Minutemen is a good way to try to make it seem as if
concerned citizens are incapable of making a dent in the
problem. Unfortunately, the problems are exacerbated by the
attitude of many in the Bush administration and by Democrats and
Republicans on Capitol Hill, who seem to view border security as
a nuisance that interferes with their more enlightened agenda:
making it as easy as possible for illegal aliens to violate our
borders.

Fortunately, the brave agents defending our borders don't think
that way. For them, as for the Minuteman volunteers, there's a
job to do, if only their bureaucratic masters would let them do
it.

---------

Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest
illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where
protesters patrolled last month because an increase in
apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman
volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.

More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified
for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol
supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that
arrests were "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border
that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.

"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why,"
said one veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase
after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that."

Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their
intention" to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to
offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols
along the border have been severely limited.

Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar at the agency's Washington
headquarters called the accusations "outright wrong," saying
that supervisors at the Naco station had not blocked agents from
making arrests and that the station's 350 agents were being
"supported in carrying out" their duties.

"Border Patrol agents are the front line of defense against
terrorism," Chief Aguilar said, adding that the 11,000 agents
nationwide are "meeting that challenge, head-on ... as daunting
a task as that may sound."

The chief -- a former head of the agency's Tucson sector, which
includes the Naco station -- said that with the world watching
the Arizona border because of the Minuteman Project, agents in
Naco "demonstrated flexibility and resilience in carrying out
their critical homeland security duties and responsibilities."

But Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, yesterday said
"credible sources" within the Border Patrol also had told him of
the decision by Naco supervisors to keep new arrests to a
minimum, saying he was angry but not surprised.

"It's like telling a cop to stand by and watch burglars loot a
store but don't arrest any of them," he said. "This is another
example of decisions being made at the highest levels of the
Border Patrol that are hurting morale and helping to rot the
agency from within.

"I worry about our efforts in Congress to increase the number of
agents," he said. "Based on these kinds of orders, we could
spend the equivalent of the national debt and never have secure
borders."

Mr. Tancredo, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform
Caucus, blamed the Bush administration for setting an
immigration enforcement tone that suggests to those enforcing
the law that he is not serious about secure borders.

"We need to get the president to come to grips with the
seriousness of the problem," he said. "I know he doesn't like to
utter the words, 'I was wrong,' but if we have another incident
like September 11 by people who came through our borders without
permission, I hope he doesn't have to say 'I'm sorry.' "

During the Minuteman vigil, Border Patrol supervisors in Arizona
discounted their efforts, saying a drop in apprehensions during
their protest was because of the Mexican government's deployment
of military and police south of the targeted area and a new
federal program known as the Arizona Border Control Initiative
that brought manpower increases to the state.

The Naco supervisors blamed the volunteers for unnecessarily
tripping sensors, disturbing draglines and interfering with the
normal operations of the agents. They said that their impact on
illegals was "negligible" and that civilians should leave
immigration enforcement "to the professionals."

Several field agents credited the volunteers with cutting the
flow of illegal aliens in the targeted Naco area, saying the
number of apprehended illegals dropped from an average of 500 a
day to less than 15 a day.

More than 850 volunteers, in a protest of the lax immigration
enforcement policies of the White House and Congress, sought to
reduce the flow of illegal aliens along a popular immigration
corridor on the Arizona-Mexico border near Naco by reporting
illegals to the Border Patrol as they crossed into the United
States.

Their goal was to show that increased manpower on the border
would effectively deter illegal immigration. Organizers said the
protest resulted in Border Patrol arrests of 349 illegal aliens.

Area residents, in a half-page ad in the Sunday edition of the
Sierra Vista Herald, told the volunteers: "Thanks for doing what
our government won't -- close the border to illegal aliens. It
was the quietest month we've had in many years ... You made us
feel safe because the border was closed."

---------

CONTACT INFO:

Send a note to thank the Border Patrol in Tuscon and demand the
resignation of Michael Nicely, Agent-in-Charge of the Tucson
Sector of the Border Patrol.

U.S. Customs & Border Protection Headquarters
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20229
(202) 354-1000

Office of Border Patrol
Assistant Commissioners - David V. Aguilar
(202) 344-2050
http://www.customs.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/ ... arters.xml

Tucson Field Operations Office Information
Location Address : 4740 N. Oracle Road
Suite 310, Tucson , AZ 85705
General Phone : (520) 407-2300
General Fax : (520) 407-2350
Operational Hours : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ( Pacific )

U.S. BORDER PATROL Local 2544
Tucson, Arizona
Toll Free (800) 581-2544
Fax (520) 293-6044
president@local2544.org
pigasus200@aol.com
See their excellent website at: http://www.local2544.org

National Border Patrol Council
President - TJ Bonner
tjbonner@nbpc.net
(619) 478-5145

South West Regional VP:
Covering Local 1613, Local 2544, Local 2554, Local 2595 & Local
2730
George McCubbin - gmccubbin@nbpc.net
(619)465-3492(voice)
(619)465-0948(fax)
(619)985-1613(pager)

Arizona Dept. Homeland Security Office
Frank Navarette, Homeland Security Director
1700 West Washington Street, 3rd Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85007
602-542-7030

More Contacts:
List of all Dept of Homeland Security state offices:
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/e ... al_0291.xm
l

National Department of Homeland Security web site and email
form.
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/contactus
Mailing Address:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
Citizen Line:
Operator Number: 202-282-8000
Comment Line: 202-282-8495

Contact your congressional members and the president: See
http://www.congress.org for contact info.

------ end -------


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