Posted on 07/24/2005 10:33:49 AM PDT by SC33
Minutemen scout South Texas before October operation
By Sara Inés Calderón The Brownsville Herald
SARCO, July 24, 2005 — Maps and handbooks lay across the hood of a silver pickup truck in front of an old, wooden schoolhouse in this South Texas town.
Bill Parmley and Kim Frommey were making plans.
Country music was playing in the background, and an old dog was sitting under an oak tree panting as the two discussed routes that immigrant smugglers use to bring people through Goliad County, right into their backyards in Sarco.
“It’s ruined my home. The tranquility, the serenity, how you feel serene in your home, it’s not there anymore,” said Parmley, the president of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps of Texas.
The group originated as Sarco Concerned Citizens and discussed community issues, eventually evolving into the Minutemen in Texas.
Parmley said he has found trash on his property, his animals have been killed for food and his family is scared because trespass-ing is a common occurrence.
Starting in October, Parmley, Frommey and other Minutemen will patrol the Texas-Mexico border to report illegal immigration to authorities. The Texas group, which hopes to have about 7,000 volunteers this fall, is an extension of the civilian border patrol group that originated in Arizona and gained the media spotlight in April.
Ex-Army Rangers and Navy Seals have been doing reconnaissance work along the border in Brownsville for the last three to four months, Parmley said. They have been observing and marking heavy crossing locations on maps.
Parmley and Frommey were among five residents and an equal number of media who met Thursday at an old Sarco schoolhouse to discuss how immigration was affecting the community.
The Minutemen used a highlighted map on the wall of the schoolhouse to show how immigrants cross the border hundreds of miles from here but end up streaming through their roads and properties.
“We’ve got wide-open borders and our government is not doing anything about it,” said Tim Rainey, another Sarco resident and member of the Sarco Concerned Citizens. The group formed in February of this year, and transformed into the Minutemen when they realized that local law enforcement could not solve all of their problems, they said.
Parmley and his neighbors decided to take action. They said they started by reporting suspicious activities to local authorities, and now they have extended their activities to the border — 5 million acres in 10 counties, most of it private land.
The Minutemen were hopeful to become part of a group of citizen volunteers trained by Customs and Border Protection to assist in monitoring the borders. But hours before their meeting in Sarco, the Department of Homeland Security, which supervises Cus-toms and Border Protection, announced that option was closed — indefinitely.
“It sounds like they are talking out of both sides of its mouth,” said a noticeably disappointed Parmley, reacting to the news. “That’s nothing new with the government.”
For Parmley, Frommey, Rainey and others, illegal immigration is personal. However, they are not without their ideological and political complaints.
“Our government has basically allowed it (illegal immigration) to get out of hand, and the snowball is now 11 million large,” said Kenneth Buelter.
He said the direct effects of illegal immigration don’t stop at his backyard, but affect the country’s prison system, educational system, and national security. Several in the group were also concerned about the “inhumane” abuse immigrants suffer at the hands of smugglers.
“Everybody that is coming over here is not just looking for work anymore,” Buelter said.
For the Minutemen in Texas, the solution to the problem is for the government to “control” the borders by preventing all illegal immigration, they said. “The government needs to start doing its duty to protect the Constitution of the United States,” said From-mey.
The group said it is also considering monitoring the U.S.-Canada border this October, because the border is a threat to national security.
People from Tennessee to the Carolinas to Kansas are eager to help protect the South Texas border, the group said. Twenty-nine volunteers in Canada are partnering with the Minutemen in Texas, but no one has volunteered in Mexico, Parmley said.
“Their policy is an open-door policy on that border,” said Parmley, “We’re being invaded. This is not an illegal immigration, this is an illegal migration. It’s uncontrolled. It’s totally unchecked. They could have a nuclear bomb with them and we wouldn’t know it.”
sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com
From what I understand, if the trespasser is an illegal, they can't detain them. They are under federal government protection and can only be apprehended by an authorized federal LEO.
However, if the trespasser is an American, the landowner can execute citizen's arrest and hold them for the local law enforcement officers.
So if there an illegal they can't attack them, they just have to run off and hide?
Check it out. They have two websites (everything is bigger in Texas)
What is up with him? Is he trying to make sure Tancredo gets elected in 2008? A "I'm not running so the h*** with it" attitude? Fight a war on one hand & turn around & lose in on the other. D'oh.
No 50 buck fee. They will get you hooked up with the Houston team as well. Or El Paso, whichever one you want. Im going to El Paso.
So far. It's kinda tough too. I heard that Gilchrist and Chase got fired on last night about 3 am by drug smugglers. Still checking it out but is seems to be the case.
Minor correction. That would be the El Paso project in October, being run by the Arlington / DFW team.
I'm glad to hear that there are people willing to go and do the job our leaders will not. I'm not sure if you know, but what percentage of the volunteers are non-white? I've been saying this for a while now, the key to success in this battle is to actively seek support from people of all races. The majority of African Americans agree with our position, and I would even assume that there are a fair amount of Hispanics who agree also. The key is to get these groups publicly involved. Not only could we use the help, but it would take away the "racist" argument that the open-borders crowd loves to use. So far, I only know of one "minority" group that has chimed in on this debate;
http://www.latinoamericans.org/
Haven't a clue. That question is not in the volunteer form. Based upon the folks that showed up in AZ last April it was only a few. Of course, we had our own president calling us the "v" word and nearly every media outlet drooling over the possibility that an actual mistake might occur. I can certainly understand why we did not see many Americans of "other than western European orgin."
http://officialminutemen.com/
Is the site of the Texas Minutemen, or the National Group?
Interesting question. The Texas Minutemen are one (prominent) group among several that grew from the original project. The folks that are running the Texas Minutemen are original MMP volunteers and are described here...
http://www.officialminutemen.org (the forum)
an excerpt..
"Who are we? Good question and we want you to know the correct answer! We are a group of original Minuteman Project volunteers that worked directly with Mr. Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, by designing, building and operating the Communications and Command Center (CCC) at the Miracle Valley Bible College, the Communications Headquarters for the AZ Minuteman Project in April, 2005. My name is Carl and the rest of our team consists of Shannon (current p.o.c. of the Texas Minutemen), Sandra and Frank.
Frank and I began working with Jim Gilchrist last December, five months prior to the start of the April Minuteman Project in Arizona. We worked in two areas....."
What you are referring to as the "National Group" is actually Chris Simcox's "Minuteman Civil Defense Corps" which is the outgrowth of Chris's "Civil Defense Corps" (as I recall) webpage from about one year ago, (before the MMP.) The original Minuteman Project site is still running, it is the current site of "Operation Spotlight" which is Jim Gilchrist, the originator of the Minuteman Project.
http://www.minutemanhq.com/project/
So, when you refer to the Texas Minutemen, that is a continuation of the original project by the folks from Texas that worked directly with Jim Gilchrist, the originator of the MMP. When you refer to the "national group" that is actually Chris Simcox, who lives in Tombstone, AZ. He does pretty much the same thing. The Texas Minutemen focus on the issues of Texas, as it comprises half of the total border between the U.S and Mexico. Quite a handful. Chris goes about the country promoting and apparently intends to continue running projects. The Texas Minutemen focus on running projects, period.
I hope all this helps, I know it can be clear as mud if you weren't working with all these folks as of last fall.
Those stupid vigilantes. They're really making me look bad.
Signed,
El Presidente
Check your FReepmail
I would go, but I can't get away from work. (I have to work twice as hard as everyone else to prove that I wasn't an affirmative action hire----thanks ALOT blankety-blank affirmative action-pushing liberals).
And, for everyone asking if 7,000 in Texas sounds right.....EVERYTHING'S big in Texas.
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