Posted on 02/21/2005 2:42:11 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
They've cut down her fences, stolen her pickup and even broken into her home — once rampaging into the bedroom and nearly strangling her, sparing her life only after she grabbed a gun.
Not so lucky were several loyal dogs that were killed by the determined invaders.
Local authorities offered little help, and federal officers could do only so much with limited resources.
Left to fend for herself, South Texas rancher Kerry Morales decided to take direct action to stop undocumented immigrants who move daily through her 80 acres outside Hebbronville, about 54 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Maybe 20 years ago the illegals were innocent, hard-working people," she said. "Not any more. Now they're extremely dangerous. They mean violence."
In April, Morales plans to join approximately 1,000 other volunteers from across the United States expected to descend on a 20-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border and become temporary, de facto border guards.
The effort already is drawing critics — including the Border Patrol — but organizers are adamant the monthlong gathering will be a peaceful show of force, not a vigilante operation.
Dubbed the Minuteman Project after the 1770s-era Massachusetts militiamen on call at a moment's notice, it is the brainchild of Jim Gilchrist, a retired California accountant and former Marine who fought in Vietnam.
Gilchrist tapped an Arizona activist, who for two years has been leading small groups of civilians to patrol the border, to help him organize the April mission. That state was picked because for several years it has led the country in undocumented migrant traffic.
South Texas could be next — possibly this summer, depending on how the first experiment goes.
"It's going to be a gigantic neighborhood watch," said Gilchrist, 56.
He said contact with migrants will be forbidden and any "wacko" who breaks ranks will be kicked out and reported to local authorities.
Since Arizona allows it, participants with handgun permits can carry their weapons. Still, they're encouraged to leave them at home because they won't need them, Gilchrist said. And larger firearms, including rifles — and soldier-like attire such as camouflage fatigues — won't be allowed.
"There's a place for Rambos in real wars," he said. "This is not a real war."
Emphasis on the nonviolent, law-abiding aspect of the Minuteman Project is key because organizers don't want to be seen as vigilantes. Other civilian border patrol efforts have gained a reputation as outlaw associations.
Numerous immigrant advocates and politicians have labeled the Minuteman Project's co-organizer, the Arizona-based Civil Homeland Defense, as a vigilante organization.
A similar description has been given to Ranch Rescue, a now-disbanded group formed in Texas that upon request dispatched military-clad, armed volunteers to assist border-area ranchers.
On one such mission in South Texas two years ago, a confrontation between Ranch Rescue members and undocumented migrants ended in court — the migrants claimed to have been beaten.
A jury did not concur but did find one group member guilty of illegally carrying a gun.
The Minuteman Project effort couldn't be more different in strategy and approach, Gilchrist said.
Groups of four to eight volunteers will be assigned to safe areas near the border to spot migrants using high-tech equipment such as night-vision binoculars.
Once crossers are identified, spotters will use cell phones and walkie-talkies to contact a "command center," which will relay sightings to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Participants will not confront migrants, letting them pass if encountered directly, Gilchrist said.
The strong military flavor in his talk is no coincidence. Not only is he a former Marine, his top ground organizers are all military veterans. About 60 in all, they will be led by a former Army sergeant major who led logistics planning during Gulf War I, Gilchrist said.
The project's apparently serious and structured approach has persuaded 29 Texans so far to sign up.
Just as he volunteered for two tours in Vietnam three decades ago, Bob Sabia of San Antonio felt a renewed call upon hearing of the Minuteman Project on a national conservative radio talk show.
Now retired, the 62-year-old former Marine pilot still takes to the air in his Cessna 150, which he plans to fly to Arizona to help foil illegal border crossings.
"Congress is not doing its job of protecting the nation's borders," Sabia said. "And there's enough of us vets around who aren't going to take this sitting down."
But it's not just about being patriotic. Many volunteers deem the ever-growing immigrant influx as eroding U.S. culture, arguing that most migrants don't learn English and show no interest in assimilating into the American mainstream.
For Charlie Preston of Austin, it's about providing the best future for his 5-year-old daughter.
If it takes shelling out his own money to be part of a national cry for politicians to recognize the negative socioeconomic effects of an open border, that's what Preston is ready to do.
"A nation has to have a unified culture," said Preston, 31, who owns a Web marketing business. "If that culture begins to break down, the entire country breaks down."
Immigrant advocates have heard such arguments before. And while they've also become used to seeing small groups of civilian border patrols, a massive incursion of anti-immigrant activists could prove disastrous, they warn.
Despite Gilchrist's repeated claims of peaceful mobilization, Isabel García doesn't buy a word of it.
The veiled language hides a hate-mongering, xenophobic intention to add to the boiling border political climate, said García, co-director of the Human Rights Coalition in Tucson, Ariz.
Minuteman Project participants should be promptly arrested and charged if they confront migrants, said García, noting her group plans to stage counterdemonstrations and may call on their own volunteers to directly monitor project activities.
Such advocates aren't the only ones against the idea. The U.S. Border Patrol also prefers that civilians stay home.
Though many patrol agents long have claimed to be outnumbered and have pleaded for additional manpower and newer equipment, agency leaders say the dangerous task of watching the border should be left to trained officers.
Project volunteers may end up giving border officers more unsolicited work and stress than necessary, said José Garza, a Brownsville native and spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector.
Agents may have to respond to violent clashes between participants and drug traffickers. They may even have to break off from regular duties to assist people in distress — volunteers from out of state could easily get lost in the tricky, unforgiving desert, Garza said.
Gilchrist, noting that so far he has received about 40 negative e-mails in contrast to more than 4,000 messages of support, dismissed all criticism as unfounded and exaggerated.
He's counting on most volunteers being like Dan Lehnhoff, a fellow Vietnam veteran who lost a leg in 1970 while serving with the Navy.
Lehnhoff won't be able to move around too much with only one leg, but he said he'll take any assignment organizers give him.
"I can't be involved in anything shady. Military people can't be doing anything illegal, or we risk losing our pension," said Lehnhoff, 55, of Whitney, northwest of Waco, who plans to drive his RV to the Arizona border for three weeks in April.
"The main thing is to be law-abiding," he said. "You can't have a bunch of vigilantes down there taking the law into their own hands."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- hrozemberg@express-news.net
That's all we ever hear. How lettuce will cost $4 a head. Well, it friggin' cost about $3 a head last winter. I survived. The country survived. And our enemies were not emboldened by the fact that we were paying so much for lettuce.
We could use more Border Patrol agents, true. But it wouldn't take very many, certainly not a million. We could make a real dent just by having a President and congress who understand the problem and stop acting from their special interests.
BPAs want to do the job, but are slapped down every time by politcians, or hopeful ones like Asa Hutchinson. Politicians want to pander to the Hispanics, but don't realize that even legal Hispanics want the illegals stopped.
All it takes is the political will to ENFORCE the laws on the books, and to get the heck out of the way. To say (like Asa)that Americans don't really want this fixed is assinine and patently false.
I think they are still around. But their political and policing mission isn't needed much any more, ever since NYC got serious about cracking down on crime.
Go figure.
And I was simply explaining what I perceive to be the rationale for that approach.
I'm no lawyer (husband is) but I believe an illegal immigrant's mere presence in the country is a felony, as is any aiding, abetting or harboring an illegal entrant.
While part of the solution lies in Washington, DC, part of the problem in enforcement lies in cities and states with sanctuary laws that prohibit agencies from reporting or even asking about a person's legal status regarding their presence here. But they are felons and can be detained as such...it's just not encouraged because there are too many and it's not profitable or practical to go after them.
As for citizen's arrest, that's not an issue for bounty-hunters. They're licenced and permitted, just like private detectives and security agents and work closely with local, state and federal agents.
I doubt the unarmed citizens on the 20mile project will get more than a whiff of any illegals. After all, this is hardly a secret. They'll just cross at another place or wait another day.
>>I think they are still around. But their political and policing mission isn't needed much any more, ever since NYC got serious about cracking down on crime.
Go figure.<<
Good. Maybe we'll get a repeat at the border.
No, not so long as the line Jim drew regarding the allegedly racist organization isn't crossed.
This is news, it's published, and it's worthy of discussion as long as calls for violence are avoided.
The previous article - the one that is still up - was written by a flaming Liberal and didn't come close to telling us the real workings of the Minuteman Project. This one comes closer.
And, FWIW, I have a hard time believing there may be a connection between Gilchrist and Stormfront. I know my Sheriff and another organizer too well to believe otherwise.
My boss had a great line for folks like you: "Any job is easy if you're not the one doing the work."
I've done the manpower studies; you need enough BPAs on post to deter people from attempting to cross in the first place. Once the border jumper makes the decision to go, the battle is half lost. Deterring the border jumper means that you have to make it obvious that he will almost certainly be detained and deported. That works out to about 50,000 on patrol, 50,000 as a reaction force, and 5 bodies per individual on duty (unless you're planning on not enforcing the border at night and on weekends). Then add 1 support position for each person employed in actually chasing down illegals. Guess what the number works out to?
All it takes is the political will to ENFORCE the laws on the books, and to get the heck out of the way. To say (like Asa)that Americans don't really want this fixed is assinine and patently false.
One BPA could change your tune in an instant: "Your papers, sir."
Followed by your vanity post about how America just became a police state...
It is not. Most are guilty of an administrative offense. To make a citizens arrest, you need to witness either a felony or a very restricted set of misdemeanor offenses (such as riot) in progress.
As for citizen's arrest, that's not an issue for bounty-hunters. They're licenced and permitted, just like private detectives and security agents and work closely with local, state and federal agents.
Bounty hunters go after someone who has posted a bail bond. That waives certain rights. A Mexican walking along a trail in Southern Arizona has signed no such paper.
This does not mean I agree with the law. But these are the laws in force. They would have to change at the state level.
saw a little piece on The History Channel the other night about Area 51...the government has the miles and miles of desert surrounding 51 ringed with infrared cameras, motion detectors, sensors, etc. Signs clearly posted state that guards are authorized to shoot on sight, and when the reporters wandered too far onto the property...a fleet of guards in humvees was there in a flash.
So much for the theory that miles and miles of open, empty desert cannot be defended.....IT CAN!
Can't we put at least as much effort in protecting our southern border as we put into protecting the UFO's in Nevada?
This article is still up. It is up to the anti-illegal immigration posters on FR to police our own threads and not allow calls for violence or illegal actions - and not tolerate bigotry. And posters also need to resist flame wars, petty insults, and especially widespread outbreaks of PFS - Persecuted Freeper Syndrome - that require JimRob to take time out from his other activities to deal with a bunch of kids who won't play nice.
The debate is ours to win. The popular support is there. It needs to be translated into political support. We need to stay on the high road to get there.
Kindly note the difference in length between the perimeter of Area 51 and the US-Mexican border.
Can't we put at least as much effort in protecting our southern border as we put into protecting the UFO's in Nevada?
1. Divide the length of the US-Mexican border by the length of the Area 51 perimeter. Save this number.
2. Multiply the Area 51 security budget by the number generated in Step 1.
3. Try not to faint from sticker shock.
There's another line: It's the job that's never started that's the hardest to finish. Samwise Gamgee, from Tolkein.
You won't need to deter nearly so many if they know that they'll end up in jail, won't get driver's licenses, won't get free health care, won't get a job, and won't get to vote. You won't have to deter so many if they know that they'll still get arrested in DeMoines, or Albequerque, or New York City even if they somehow get past the border.
And I don't mind providing my papers, I live here legally.
You're right, Poohbah, we shouldn't bother. It's too expensive.
And that WWII thingy - that cost a lot of money as well. We should have just let Hitler keep Europe.
Exactly. This isn't about a single line of defense. It's about changing the entire federal, state and local interaction with illegals.
Please explain where you get your figure of $150,000 a year from. Who are you hiring? Ex-congress critters or maybe out of work CEO's.
Getting three hots and a cot might e an incentive. Try again.
won't get driver's licenses, won't get free health care, won't get a job, and won't get to vote.
They don't get driver's licenses now, nor do they get driver's licenses. As for jobs, as long as someone's offering money, and someone's willing to do the work, there will be jobs. And the higher the minimum wage goes, the more cash-under-the-table jobs there will be.
Your complaint is that we mandate that all hospitals offer emergency room treatment to all comers. Well, that provision also covers a lot of Americans, too.
You won't have to deter so many if they know that they'll still get arrested in DeMoines, or Albequerque, or New York City even if they somehow get past the border.
Oh, I see...you're one who favors defense-in-depth.
And I don't mind providing my papers, I live here legally.
Oh, I see; you're a serf already, and you want everyone else to be one, too.
If you want to live in a police state where you must provide ID without any probable cause on the part of the government, there are a great many to choose from; kindly relocate your a$$ to one of those, and leave us to the bsiness of living in a free republic.
I know of one illegal alien whose bill has topped $3 million and it is still going. How many illegals come across the border for "free" dialysis usually costing at least $40 to $50 thousand a year? We know for a fact that these bills are huge as Bush snuck through the Medicare Bill $1 billion for the hospitals on the border.
Question for you. How many more border patrol agents would the $1 billion pay for?
That is the average loaded rate for a federal employee. It includes salary, benefits package, administrative overhead, infrastructure costs (lights in the office, flush toilets, et cetera) and other costs associated with hiring a person.
Salary is actually the smallest part of personnel costs.
Ex-congress critters or maybe out of work CEO's.
Then the loaded rate would be over a million a year.
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