Posted on 04/08/2005 11:09:51 AM PDT by Spiff
Eyewitness report from the Arizona/Mexico border from two Minuteman volunteers
Jack & Barb
April 5, 2005 ... Witnessing with our own eyes what is going on at the border has really been mind-boggling. Unless you see it for yourself down here you would never believe it. The local media reports some of what actually transpires on the border here but it never reaches the interior of our country and the majority of our citizens. In plain language we are being invaded, not by armies, but by literally thousands of illegal aliens every single day of the year. The Border Patrol doesn’t even catch half of the people that come across and they catch an unbelievable number of them. I’ve heard the number 1 in 4 that come through. When they do catch them they send them back into Mexico where they try again the next day. The BP receive hundreds of calls daily from citizens reporting illegals along the highway, in the border towns, on private property, on public property, at their homes asking for and in some cases demanding food and water. I hear they don’t have half the manpower they need so a lot of calls go unanswered Of the hundreds arrested in March in this area alone the newspaper reported 20% of them had criminal records.
When OTM’s (illegal aliens Other Than Mexicans) are caught they are issued citations to appear in court just like we are issued traffic citations and released. Very small percentages ever appear in court. They disappear and go where they want to go and do what ever they came into our country to do.
We went out on border today and manned an observation post from noon until 6PM. Pretty quiet today but we did observe numerous illegals just laying around waiting for a chance to get across. On the way back to camp we observed a male Hispanic who appeared to be an illegal (carrying a back pack and a gallon jug of water) walking along the highway. Called the Border Patrol and reported the sighting to them. They are all over this area but they don’t stay here. They pass through on the way to other destinations.
After we returned to the camp we spent 4 hours on security on the main entrance. This is very stressful checking everyone and the vehicles coming through but very necessary due to the daily death threats we receive.
There are over 200 Minutemen manning observation posts working in shifts 24 hours per day. At any time you can observe Mexicans laying up just waiting for a chance to make the dash to cross over. Members of the Grupo Beta, (Mexican refugee assistance group), Federales (Mexican National Police) and Mexican soldiers continuously patrol the border to direct those waiting to cross over to go around that section of the border Minutemen are observing. We have been very successful in shutting down the influx of illegals in the areas where we have been posted. That is why the drug cartels and the human smugglers are so mad at us. We are costing them big bucks by closing the border. We have proven it can be done. Are you listening President Bush?????
Are these the poor peons that want to come here to do the jobs Americans don’t want to do? More like the criminals who come here to compete with our own homegrown crooks.
You had better WAKE UP America. They are coming to your town. If you can’t believe they are a threat to our way of life, and our society come to the Arizona border, talk to the locals and see for yourself. Get involved. It is an eye opener.
In recent polls 80% of American want our borders secured. Are you listening El Presidente?? Close the borders. Enforce our laws.
Until tomorrow!!!!!!!!
Eyewitness report from the Arizona/Mexico border from two Minuteman volunteers
Jack & Barb
April 6, 2005
We took some personal time today to buy supplies and wash clothes, etc. then spent 4 hours out on the line. Observed the same things out there today. Mexican officials are still directing their citizens to flank our observation posts. We are getting the Mexican governments attention and making them respond. According to local ranchers who have land right on the border they have never seen so many Sheriff Deputies, Border Patrol Agents in the area and have never seen the Grupo Beta and the Federales on the Mexican side. They do see the Mexican Army occasionally. They stated that prior to our arrival they observed trucks, pickups, vans, and even occasionally taxi cabs bringing people up to the border and dropping them off. The Mexicans then walk across the border at the first opportunity. According to the ranchers we talked to this is just about a daily occurrence. Most have given up contacting officials about the problem as nothing is ever done to help them.
The big news today is Border Patrol supervisors are bitching that Minutemen are setting off their sensors. Another complaint they are making is that we are walking in the area they sweep clean then watch for the footprints of any one coming across these areas so they can follow them. This is BS. They are informed of the areas that we will be in. It appears they are getting their orders from on high to harass us any way they can. Most BP Agents (the grunts who do the work) are glad we are here.
It appears that our opposition is trying to set us up for arrest and lawsuits. A Minuteman stopped to lend assistance to a apparent illegal setting along the highway looking distressed, gave the individual food and water and called the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol picked the illegal up and when they got him back to their holding facility the illegal stated that the Minuteman detained him. Crap hit the fan. The Border Patrol notified the Sheriffs office who notified the County prosecutor. The Sheriff’s Department came to the camp to investigate the incident. Lucky for this Minuteman the whole incident was video taped by another Minuteman on the scene. It is still unknown how the incident will play out. It is against the law to detain illegal aliens or hold them until the authorities arrive even on your private property. The authorities will charge you with unlawful detainment, depriving the illegals of their civil rights (all though they are breaking the law) and in some cases even kidnapping. This is the work of the ACLU.
Oh yes, the ACLU are still on the scene in full force hoping to catch a Minuteman doing something they can sue us for. They even try provoking us in some cases It would make their day catching us doing something they could come after us for. If the future of our country depended on these brain dead, brain washed individuals this country would be in more trouble then we are all ready.
Returned to camp from the border and worked on the main gate for another 6 hours. It is up to the individual how much they want to do. Most are putting in 10-18 hours a day and in some cases even more. New people come and other people leave daily. I don’t think any one knows the exact number of Minutemen here at any one time cause not all of them are staying in camp. The number in our camp fluctuates between 300-400 on any one day Many more are staying in motels, RV parks, with friends, etc; or live in the area.
The Sheriffs Department notified us that a Hispanic individual from Tennessee had telephoned them that he was loading up his friends and coming to Arizona to engage the Minutemen in a gunfight. The FBI was notified. 4 hours later the FBI notified us that this individual was definitely not coming to Arizona. It was assumed they arrested this person.
If Bush would uphold his oath of office and enforce immigration laws and close the border American lives would not be in jeopardy doing the job he refuses to do.
In a speech the other day he stated, “ The most important job a President of a country has is to protect its citizens. To bad he doesn’t practice what he preaches.
ping
Keep up the good work. Thanks for the post.
Ping.
"We are costing them big bucks by closing the border. We have proven it can be done. Are you listening President Bush?????"
Thanks for posting that. It's really interesting.
Thanks for your reports!
"Keep up the good work. Thanks for the post."
Double ditto!
I am totally fascinated by these reports. Little reaches us down here in Key West. If there is another project I will seriously consider going to give support anyway I can.
I wish they took CC instead of pay pal :(
I'd been looking for some firsthand accounts. Thanks!
Ping! These guys are awesome.
bump
-- The local media reports some of what actually transpires on the border here but it never reaches the interior of our country and the majority of our citizens. In plain language we are being invaded, not by armies, but by literally thousands of illegal aliens every single day of the year.
And I'll tell you this- until they prove ( not talk, but take action ) to me that they are serious about porous borders and arrogant, over-reaching Judges, the GOP will not see one thin dime from me, ever again.
Protect us from what? Roofers and construction workers? Tomato pickers? Nannies?
It's not Juan the dishwasher we are worried about. It's Alberto the serial rapist, Juanita the welfare whore, and Alfonso the MS-13 meth lab operator.
I don't know about the first two but the last guy will get across. Just bribe someone at the border.
They should be put into "cleaning crew teams" for year or two, have them cleanup roads and contribute labor (work for food) and then released. Maybe they will thing twice next time?
I love the job the minutemen are doing. Thanks and keep up the good work!
...just got this as an email and thought I would share it with Free Republic where so many are keeping track of the events of the Minuteman Project.
Thanks, Spiff, for keeping us all informed. This is what is needed to balance what much of the MSM is going to try to feed us over the next three weeks.
Viva Los Minutos Honbres! They are just patriots doing the job that the president will not let the border patrol do.
I agree with you totally. The GOP better get their heads out of there asses before Hillary Clinton steals this issue from them and is sitting in the whitehouse smiling at their dumb asses.
"Protect us from what? Roofers and construction workers? Tomato pickers? Nannies?"
All of the above!!!!!!
Great update Mr. Spiff...
When captured, illegal aliens should be sentenced to 1 year in a border prison. The border prisons should be fashioned from the same stuff as Sheriff Joe Arpaio's tent city in Phoenix, AZ. If Army tents are good enough for our brave soldiers and even good enough for our common CITIZEN criminals, then they're good for foreign national criminals.
Second, the illegal aliens will do work details along the border. Building roads, fences, walls, barriers, obstacles, etc. They will also be on trash cleanup details to clean up our once pristine deserts and haul their crap out of there.
If we don't give the Border Patrol some bite, and we don't provide strong enough disincentatives and negative consequences for border crossers, we'll never begin to solve the border problem.
Never another Bush, never another RINO! NEVER.
Has anybody ever thought, in addition to reporting on illegals crossing the border, they actually videotape it too? Sounds like some pretty powerful commercials could be created with that kind of footage.
The press seem eager to latch onto the Project if only because it's a source of irritation for Bush. Sounds like the perfect vector for getting some footage to the general public.
'Good-fences-make-good-neighbors' Bump!
I mean by videotaping, I mean showing that the Mexican Gov't is complicit in the illegal crossings.
Yes, she's already positioning herself on this very issue. Sometimes I really think there's truth to that old saying, "There are only two parties in America-- the Evil Party, and the Stupid Party."
No... Fence-building crews!
Are you listening Mr. President?
We've done that and very few people care. We've video taped miles of tape, both during the day time and at night using night vision equipment. One friend of mine has literally thousands of digital photos she's taken of all the illegal alien damage and a number of groups she's turned in to Border Patrol. American Border Patrol came down and started doing the same thing and even added UAVs to document the invasion.
We've actually achieved a great deal. There's a lot of talk coming from some RINOs in Congress (Kolbe, McCain, Cannon, etc) about amnesty (aka. guest worker) plans. The President mentioned that he supports an amnesty (aka. guest worker) plan too. Yet, if it was not for all of the effort we've been taking here to educate the American people and a few rational Congressmen, the amnesty plan would have already been passed and signed into law. As it stands, the amnesty schemes are D.O.A.
The Minuteman Project takes this to a whole new level. There will be no denying that the border traffic can be stopped if there is someone there with the will to actually stop it. And if this 30-day event in Cochise County, AZ doesn't do it, there are groups gearing up to do this in other states and locations in the near future. We will keep doing this until the President is forced to pay attention, admit his mistakes and then actually do his job to secure the borders. We're not going away, but are only going to grow stronger and more effective at this.
"Never another Bush, never another RINO! NEVER."
Since a third party is not going to win a presidential election in the foreseeable future, what are you going to do? Look at your option in the last election and tell me you wouldn't vote Republican again.
I don't believe for a second that Hillary would actually do anything meaningful about the borders. But she only needs to peel off a about 70,000 votes in a State like Ohio where jobs is a major issue to win.
It is incomprehensible to me that the Republicans can't seem to be on the correct side of this issue in which at least 80% of party members are in agreement. Tolerance for illegal immigration compromises almost every Republican principle.
This is the first time I'm saying this; Bush sucks!
It's disgraceful that our leaders won't fund this basic element of national security, post 9-11.
President Bush is great on defending us over seas. Not so good at doing so at home and with the Constitution Comprehension skills.
Appreciate the update. Thanks.
The Minutemen are real heroes.
If this is true, we are screwed!
Time to stockpile canned goods, water and ammo. This country is in for some bad times.
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