Ping.
Piss, and little of it.
A retired accountant, Mr. Gilchrist conceived the idea of organizing people to patrol the Arizona desert in April for illegal immigrants and report them to the Border Patrol. The project has attracted nearly 1,000 volunteers and 30 private planes.
Mr. Gilchrist says that although some of the watchers will be "responsibly armed," they will not try to make arrests or confront anyone, but simply report illegals to the proper authorities.
The Arizona ACLU has vowed to monitor the monitors. Groups have protested Mr. Gilchrist outside his gated community.
On Wednesday President Bush, at the summit meeting with President Vicente Fox of Mexico and Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada, when asked about the project, said, "I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America. I'm for enforcing the law in a rational way."
Mr. Bush might have jumped the gun in referring to the Minuteman Project as "vigilantes" with a negative connotation. There is nothing inherently wrong with citizens' groups helping to enforce laws; police agencies clamor for citizen cooperation and tips all the time, especially after an especially egregious crime. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Gilchrist's effort will be peaceful, or explosive.
As to Mr. Bush's point about law enforcement: The problem is that immigration law is not now enforced in a rational way by the authorities, in large part because, as currently crafted, our immigration laws are not especially rational themselves.
Our immigration laws amount to efforts to repeal reality. There is honest work available in the United States for people from Mexico willing to do it. The legal-immigration quotas are unrealistically low.
The best way to reduce illegal immigration - so the Border Patrol can focus on threats like terrorists - is to expand the quotas and consider other kinds of worker programs, not to beef up enforcement with citizen amateurs.
I read an article the other day by Michele Malkin in which she mentioned that the MSM was referring to the Minutemen as vigilantes and that that had prompted someone to comment: "The Minutemen are not vigilantes. They're undocumented Border Patrol Agents."
HA!
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I like the idea. If I was a rancher in Texas, I'd be giving this a hardy thumbs up.
No matter what, the issue isn't going away and despite what Mexican radicals and the President do to try and normalize illegals, it's still going to blow up real big IMO.
People living in border states know how bad the problem with illegals are, and it will either get taken care of by the government or the people.
I don't see this issue being able to be swept under the rug at all.
Now if Mexico wants to be annexed as a new American state, we can talk.
Vigilantes have gotten a bad reputation in the last few decades and are constantly slurred with comparison to Democrat lynch mobs. Truth is, they were, in large part, just men doing good in a lawless land.
A fellow freeper suggested the minutemen might gain more acceptance if they describe themselves as "undocumented" border patrol agents.
Some of our most powerful adversaries are here on this side of the border. ;-)
Why is the President in favor of legal status for illegals? That's one point I've missed over the years and I don't understand it.
Buy Mexico an give it to Haiti? Grrrr, I know.
President Bush's answer was a cute politician answer. He did not say the MM Project was vigilantism, he simply stated he disapproved of vigilantism.
Rosa Parks had a press conference at her arrest.