Holy Crap...defend your country's border an look what happens...
Posted on 08/12/2003 9:04:06 AM PDT by Tancredo Fan
Border incident interests citizens' group
By Louie Villalobos, Staff Writer
Aug 12, 2003
Using the Yuma case of two men arrested for allegedly holding illegal immigrants at gunpoint as its coming-out party, a newly formed citizens' group is promising to sue two Yuma County departments and come to Arizona with an "army" ready to patrol the Mexican border.
Keith French, spokesman for the newly incorporated U.S. Special Service, said his Missouri-based organization intends to sue the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and the Yuma County Attorney's Office for what he called the unlawful arrest and detention of Matthew Hoffman and Alexander Dumas.
"We have adopted these men," French said.
Both men are accused of detaining six illegal immigrants at gunpoint July 31 in Gadsden until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived.
Each is facing six counts of aggravated assault, five counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to commit unlawful imprisonment following the incident.
In an e-mailed declaration sent to the county attorney's office, the sheriff's office and The Sun, the U.S. Special Service accuses both departments of violating the suspects' civil rights by arresting them for doing something permitted by the law.
"People are allowed to arrest someone they see commit a crime," French said. "And entering illegally is a crime."
French said the use of handcuffs and guns on the illegal immigrants by Hoffman and Dumas falls under justification for use of force in defense of property.
Though officials said the area where the incident occurred - County 18th Street and the Colorado River - is technically federal property, French contends the entire United States is the property of every American, which makes it legal for citizens to defend it against "the invasion of illegal immigrants."
A statement released Monday by Sheriff Ralph Ogden states he recognizes the frustrations surrounding current immigration policies and said citizens may assist in the apprehension of anyone violating the law.
But the statement goes one to "warn any individual assuming that responsibility that such arrests must be done in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and that failure to do so may result in their being charged with a violation of the law."
The department has said that detaining someone against their will, even if they have broken the law, is illegal and goes beyond what a citizen's arrest allows.
French said his organization had been looking at federal laws regarding private citizens' patrols when Hoffman and Dumas were arrested, and said the case is the perfect one for his group to announce itself with.
He said his group plans to help family members with the defense of their loved ones, but is urging both the county attorney's office and the sheriff's office to drop the charges and release Hoffman and Dumas. If not, French said his organization will seek alternative means to have the men freed.
"Sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire," he said. "They can take that however the hell they want."
A second demand in the e-mailed declaration is the resignation of Yuma County Attorney Patricia Orozco, who French said is pursuing the case because her Hispanic descent has caused her to take the incident personally.
For her part, Orozco said that her office pursuing the case has nothing to do with her Hispanic heritage and everything to do with the law. She said her staff didn't do anything different on this case than it has in previous cases or will do with future ones.
"Our standard is whether there is a reasonable likelihood of a conviction at trial," she said. "We found that there was sufficient evidence for us to bring charges and we did."
Also targeted by French's group are the illegal immigrants that cross through Arizona on a daily basis. French said he intends to bring an "army" to the Arizona-Mexico border in the near future that will be armed and ready to detain illegal immigrants.
He said plans are in the works for the group to come to the Arizona border and tour the area for possible locations for a base camp. French said the camp will most likely be in the Tucson area but that he intends to visit Yuma to check on the Hoffman-Dumas case and illegal immigrant activity.
Unlike the other citizens' group working near Tucson - which tends to stay on private land - French said his organization will also patrol federal land and public property. Yuma County's border with Mexico is largely federal land, officials have said.
"The United States government's land is the people's land," he said. "And we will function on that property."
I hope so, and I hope that the horrendous open borders situation will be THE big issue in '04. Maybe then George Bush will have to talk about it.
This is doubletalk. What the heck kind of "arrest" doesn't involve "detaining someone against their will?"
Oh, he's already talking about it. Yesterday he said he supports that loony guest worker/amnesty proposal by Kolbe, Flake (an aptly named imbecile), and McInsane, er Cain.
Unlike the other citizens' group working near Tucson - which tends to stay on private land - French said his organization will also patrol federal land and public property. Yuma County's border with Mexico is largely federal land, officials have said.
"The United States government's land is the people's land," he said. "And we will function on that property."
If Mr. French tries this on Ft. Huachuca, the Military Police will escort his nasty carcass off the installation...rightfully so. The military is starting to acquit themselves nicely on the immigration problem. Were you aware that we had nearly 300 illegals cross over onto post property last week? The MPs were able to apprehend 63 individuals, all of whom were OTM. I don't have any more info yet, but am trying to find out where they were from and other specifics.
Next, he says he will "target(ed)...the illegal immigrants that cross through Arizona on a daily basis. French said he intends to bring an "army" to the Arizona-Mexico border in the near future that will be armed and ready to detain illegal immigrants."
This plays right into the hands of those supporting the illegal invasion. They've said all along that the border area is "seething with vigilantes who want nothing more than to kill UDAs by the hundreds."
Holy Crap...defend your country's border an look what happens...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but right now the yearly number of legal immigrants is considerably smaller than the number of illegal ones. One argument the left has been making is that not enough legal immigrants have been allowed into this country to satisfy the labor demand. While I doubt that this is really true, allowing more legal immigration could undercut the arguments for allowing illegal immigration.
Main Entry: cit·i·zen
Pronunciation: 'si-t&-z&n also -s&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English citizein, from Anglo-French citezein, alteration of Old French citeien, from cité city
Date: 14th century
1 : an inhabitant of a city or town; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman
2 a : a member of a state b : a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it
3 : a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the state
- cit·i·zen·ly /-z&n-lE also -s&n-/ adjective synonyms CITIZEN, SUBJECT, NATIONAL mean a person owing allegiance to and entitled to the protection of a sovereign state. CITIZEN is preferred for one owing allegiance to a state in which sovereign power is retained by the people and sharing in the political rights of those people . SUBJECT implies allegiance to a personal sovereign such as a monarch . NATIONAL designates one who may claim the protection of a state and applies especially to one living or traveling outside that state .
Main Entry: ar·rest
Pronunciation: &-'rest
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English aresten, from Middle French
arester to rest, arrest, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin
arrestare, from Latin ad- + restare to remain -- more
at REST
Date: 14th century
1 a : to bring to a stop
b : CHECK, SLOW c : to make inactive
2 : SEIZE, CAPTURE; specifically : to take or keep in custody by authority of law
3 : to catch suddenly and engagingly
So, what exactly is a citizens arrest if not a forcefull detainment of the commitor of the crime by a citizen?
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