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Minutemen headed north of Valley
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 Updated: 07:07 PM

PHARR -- NEWSCHANNEL 5 learns the infamous Minuteman Project has no plans to patrol the Rio Grande Valley.

PHARR – NEWSCHANNEL 5 learned Wednesday the controversial Minuteman Project will be coming to Texas, but not to the Rio Grande Valley.

Activists from the Hidalgo County Democratic Party along with other organizations claim the project is made up of armed vigilantes who have no right to interfere with immigration.

Minutemen will start patrolling in Falfurrias in October.

Kenneth Buelter, the leader of the project said they’ll be staged in Goliad. He confirmed the Valley is “too populated” and said the group will focus their efforts further north, in rural areas from Brooks County to Central Texas.

Homeland Security is also an issue when it comes to the Minuteman Project. During the past year, NEWSCHANNEL 5 uncovered evidence that immigrants from al-Qaida hot spots have crossed through the Valley.

Farida Ahmed, the Pakistani woman who posed as a South African, flew around the world just to swim across the Rio Grande. Ahmed was the target of an FBI investigation after she was caught at McAllen-Miller International Airport trying to board a plane bound for New York.

Earlier this month, a Sullivan City woman discovered a man from Bangladesh, dehydrated and dying in her front yard. The FBI has not yet been able to identify him.

But in spite of evidence, activists said the Minutemen need to step back.

“We're not saying 'open the border,'” explained Juan Maldonado, Hidalgo County’s Democratic party chairman. “We're saying 'let the authorities handle it.'”

The Minutemen kick off Operation: Secure our Borders in October. Leaders told NEWSCHANNEL 5 landowners gave the volunteers permission to roam more than 5 million acres of land between Brooks County and Central Texas.