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Posted on 10/01/2005 10:36:13 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
With lawn chairs, binoculars and water bottles in tow, civilian volunteers will begin patrolling California's southern border today with hopes of drawing further attention to illegal immigration. But their arrival is being met by serious opposition.
Chris Simcox, co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border watch group that began patrolling the Arizona/Mexico border in April, announced Friday the expansion of the controversial project to California and New Mexico as well as three states along the northern U.S. border with Canada.
"In the name of public safety and national security something needs to be done," Simcox said, speaking by phone, from a civilian patrol along the Texas border.
Over the past few months the debate about illegal immigration, undocumented workers and border security has kept politicians wrangling in Washington. In San Diego County, along a 66-mile stretch of the border with Mexico, the debate over illegal immigration has turned into a hotbed for anti-illegal immigrant groups and immigrant rights organizations.
State Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, who authored SB 60, which would legalize driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants if signed by the governor this year, said that border watchers fuel hatred and are not addressing the real concerns regarding immigration.
"Frankly, they are not welcome, and realistically they are really not relevant," said Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, who spent Thursday in Central Valley speaking with farmers about current day labor shortages. "We have a labor shortage today. If they want to be helpful, they can go to the Central Valley and pick up the crops."
However, Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, said that the civilian groups have drawn much needed attention to critical issues regarding U.S. immigration policies.
"We have had serious discussions regarding illegal immigration that did not take place five years ago," said Miller, who co-authored HR 3704, legislation that would implement a government-run, Minuteman-type program, which would coordinate, train and establish basic rules for civilian volunteer border watchers.
"I'm fed up with the wide open borders and the full-scale invasion. We need more manpower on the border."
Border Patrol agents, seemingly at the center of the controversy, are staying neutral on the issue.
In San Diego, agents are preparing for the large number of people expected to arrive today. Border agents are working closely with local authorities to ensure the safety of everyone, said Sean Isham, spokesman for the Border Patrol in San Diego.
"As far as we're concerned, we're not going to express approval or disapproval with the groups coming in," Isham said. "We have protocols with (protesters and border watchers), and we'll continue to stay in close contact with them."
In the San Diego sector, between October 2004 and Thursday, 126,592 illegal crossers were apprehended, that number was down compared to the counts from the same period a year earlier when 138,405 apprehensions were recorded, Isham said.
Determining why apprehensions are down is difficult, Isham said. Some attribute it to more high-tech monitoring devices and others suggest immigrants use alternative routes when security tightens in more commonly used border areas.
Jesse Diaz of Ontario, with the Mexican American Political Association, a pro-immigrant group based in Riverside, said his organization will continue to go to the San Diego border hoping to interrupt the operations of civilian border watchers.
Diaz said he expects more than 200 pro-immigration protesters to arrive at the border this weekend.
"(The Minutemen) are racists," Diaz said. "It's a racist movement founded in racist ideologies, and in California we have not allowed that to go unfettered or unchallenged."
During the past month, various off-shoot organizations touting themselves as border watchers have headed to the San Diego sector. Andy Ramirez, a Chino resident and chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, began patrolling with volunteers from his group in mid-September.
Ramirez said that Diaz's group did not conduct peaceful protests over the past weeks and said groups like Diaz's won't deter border watch volunteers.
"They're not interested in human rights. ... They're bathed in anarchy and use the terms racist as smoke and mirrors," said Ramirez, whose family came from Mazatlan, Mexico. "My family immigrated here legally and many are standing in line waiting the legal way."
Simcox claims that his nearly 8,000 registered volunteers nationwide will continue to man their posts, from the Canadian border to Mexico, until legislation is in place to secure the porous borders.
"We won't move until the National Guard is called in to protect our borders," he added. "There is no change in the administration's policy but there has been change in Congress and know they better address this issue because many Americans are just fed up."
fyi
80% of the US wants to have real borders. Alas upper level dems and pubs are selling out the country. upper level republicans are thinking cheap labor. upper level democrats are thinking cheap votes.
Both sides of the ruling elites adhere internationalist designs which say the current nation state is obsolete--however--the internationalists recognize that they can't go straight to world government. rather they have to assemble the world by blocks.
north amerifca is one block. it would then be restacked together as the new world block. In this form then the new world could be stacked together eurasia and eastasia to form a one world government.
the illegals coming over the border are the invading army for this north american state.
this whole biz is an incredibly bad deal for the USA.
there are simply nothing in this deal for the USA. the only thing we get are liabilities.
when you hear bush castigating the europeans over not taking in the turks. what he means is "hey we have a quid pro quo going here. we take in the mexicans and you take in the turks." if you welch on the deal and don't take in the turks--then you make americans look like a bunch of a--holes."
guess what?
It is sad that when the nation needs real leadership on the borders and immigration, we instead get incoherent hacks like Ted Kennedy and George Bush calling the shots.
Do the minutemen take donations?
What else do we need to know? Merely the usual suspects.
We don't currently have a labor shortage of farm workers. It's just that agricultural work is quickly becoming the type of work that illegal aliens don't want to do:
Study counters beliefs about illegal immigrants - Only 3 percent work in agriculture
Illegal immigration cheerleaders like Diaz know that there are no good arguments that they can make to support their position. So they do what they always do, and that is to call names of those that oppose illegal immigration.
That old worn out lie again,eh? California has, what, 4 or 5 million illegals aliens? Why don't THEY go to the Central Valley and pick up the crops, Mr. Cedillo? LA has to vote this guy out!
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
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