Posted on 05/12/2005 6:49:04 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Other patrols are being considered for New Mexico and California
By Edward Hegstrom
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Thursday, May 12, 2005
HOUSTON -- After spending a month engaged in a citizens patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border, the Minutemen are finalizing plans to come to Texas.
Chris Simcox, the leader of the controversial Arizona project to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants, says he has tentatively set October as a date to begin patrols along the Rio Grande in South Texas.
Other patrols are being considered for New Mexico and California.
But Simcox said that there are serious logistical problems for patrols in Texas. Most of the land along the Texas border is privately owned, and some of it is urbanized, unlike the open lands the group walked in Arizona.
And the same reports of drug violence that have scared some tourists away from the South Texas region also have become a concern to the Minutemen.
"The Texas border is pretty dangerous right now," Simcox said.
That won't scare the Arizona-based citizen patrols away, he said, but it does mean they will be more careful in planning their operations in Texas, which might even include efforts to disrupt the flow of drugs.
"Security becomes a serious issue because we are going to be annoying a lot of people," including leaders of the drug cartels, he said.
The monthlong Minuteman Project patrol in Arizona probably diverted the flow of illegal immigrants instead of preventing it, government officials say.
Minuteman organizers say the Border Patrol apprehended fewer than 5,000 illegal immigrants in the 20-mile region they patrolled for a month, as opposed to 60,000 the year before.
But organizers did serve to draw attention to the issue. President Bush called the Minutemen "vigilantes," but California Gov. Arnold Schwarze- negger praised them.
Houston organizers opposed to illegal immigration say they are ready to go to the border.
"Get geared up and get ready, because we're going to be there in October," said Wanda Schultz of Houston, a representative of Americans for Zero Population Growth.
Schultz and her husband went to Arizona last month to participate in the Minuteman effort.
Border representatives were less enthusiastic.
"I think the Minutemen would probably create more problems than they would solve," Brownsville Mayor Eddie Trevino Jr. said.
Trevino said that most people in South Texas believe the Border Patrol is doing its job. Increased government patrols in recent years have reduced crime in Brownsville, he said.
Texas also has a string of cities with Mexican twin cities, where regular cross-border traffic is a boon to the local economies and where citizen patrols might not be welcome.
"We're trying to distinguish between terrorists and tourists," said Trevino.
That's a difficult task better left to trained professional law enforcement, he added.
Though the Minutemen initially considered patrolling near Brownsville, Simcox said he is considering going much farther northwest, to the Big Bend National Park.
He's also reaching out to South Texas ranchers who might consider inviting the Minutemen to patrol their private land.
But recent history might make that effort more difficult. A group called Ranch Rescue did a number of patrols on private South Texas ranches in 2003, including one on a ranch near Hebbronville. Two illegal immigrants from El Salvador claimed that they were detained, and one said he was pistol-whipped by a Ranch Rescue representative on patrol.
A jury deadlocked on an assault charge against the Ranch Rescue representative. But the two immigrants filed a civil suit against both Ranch Rescue and the landowner. The owner, Joe Sutton, settled out of court.
Simcox says the Minutemen can't be compared with Ranch Rescue. Representatives of the Minutemen have been told to notify the Border Patrol when they spot an illegal immigrant crossing the border but not to attempt an arrest themselves.
Ranch Rescue "took a much more militant approach," Simcox said.
Thanks for the 'Ping', HiJinx. This is great news!
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
Got it. Thanks.
BTTT
Don't mess with Texas...Minutemen.
Thanks for the ping.
Ping
Amen - the border needs to be closed - with Texas having a thousand miles of open border, I fear we will need thousands of Minutemen to even make an impact.
[From the article:]But Simcox says there are serious logistical problems for patrols in Texas. Most of the land along the Texas border is privately owned,
Centurion wrote this:
"And probably every single one of them will grant the Minutemen permission to enter and operate so long as they don't abuse the land.
I sure as hell would.
Me too. I'd bake them a cake...from scratch.
I will absolutely guarantee that sheer number of the counter-protestors will shock some freepers if the Minutemen do come to Texas. There are many here who simply have no clue.
The good news is that the MM will have to leave their guns behind, when they come to Texas. Open carry is illegal here and concealed carry is by permit only. I'll feel a lot better knowing that I'm armed and they aren't. If they come, I'll be one of many in the counter protest.
MM...Mainstream Media? ;-)
You have a point there. That all depends on the length of the project. After all, that is during the dove season and if it continues into the deer season,..... well you just can't trust every deer hunter when he or she has a 30.06 or 270 magnum in their hands.
Oh, wow.
Y'all were lucky...
Javelina? Is there a good way to cook 'em that the meat doesn't taste just raunchy?
We slow cooked them all day over mesquite we found on the ranch. I normally don't like gamey food but that was some great eating!
That's an odd statement to make. Sounds almost threatening. Do you have any (truthful) knowledge of what the Minutemen did in Arizona, who they were, how they conducted themselves, where they performed their operations, how many were actually armed, whether or not anyone used a firearm, how many illegals were deterred from crossing the border, how many times the Minutemen were confronted by Mexican officials, how many instances of illegal activity were observed and reported by the ACLU?
Do you know who the original Minutemen were? Do you even have a clue?
Or do you just enjoy threatening American Patriots?
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