Posted on 04/18/2005 2:39:17 PM PDT by Spiff
Minuteman founder leaving border early but volunteers to remain
By Arthur H. Rotstein
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:32 p.m. April 18, 2005
TUCSON, Ariz. – The chief organizer of civilian volunteers who are spending the month watching for illegal immigrants and smugglers along the Mexican border is pulling out of the Minuteman Project early, a project official said Monday.
Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant from California, will leave Arizona on Wednesday and plans to appear before the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus next week in Washington. He will be taking the official Minuteman Project name and a group of volunteers.
"He is claiming victory ... so he felt it would be appropriate to wrap up his participation this week and prepare to go to Washington," said Chris Simcox, the project's field operations director.
Simcox, who also plans to be in Washington next week, said Gilchrist isn't severing his ties to the project or with other organizers.
Despite Gilchrist's departure and Simcox's temporary absence, Simcox said patrols will continue as planned until April 30, albeit under the name of Simcox's organization – Civil Homeland Defense.
The volunteers, some of whom are armed, arrived on April 1 and began spreading out a few days later along a 23-mile stretch of desert between the border communities of Naco and Douglas. They alert authorities when they see someone cross the border illegally, but are not allowed to detain anyone.
Law enforcement officials have said they fear the project will lead to vigilante violence, an accidental confrontation between armed volunteers and authorities, or a dangerous encounter with the violent smugglers who use the area.
The volunteers claim their reports have led the Border Patrol to more than 260 illegal immigrants. The Border Patrol has acknowledged receiving more than 300calls from Naco and Douglas, resulting in hundreds of apprehensions, but the agency will not say whether any calls came from project volunteers.
"Berlin Wall comes down; border guards now unemployed"
Nam Vet
To tide you over in the meantime, ozarkgirl said it to me on a thread last night.
Lou Dobbs is getting the message out, I like this guy!
ROTFLMAO..
That "intimidation" that you write about is not from the MMP and you know it. It's a fabrication perpetrated by the liberal media, Mexican government, illegal immigrant supporters, and the OBLs...You included.
The MMP is not trying to stop legal immigration and you know it.
An immigrant that violates United States law and crosses the desert and mountains risking life and limb in doing so is not coming to the United States to shop at Mega Lo Mart.
The mule that travels at night through the Huachuca mountains with 40 pounds of raw blow strapped to his back has nothing to do with local commerce...unless of course...YOU are profiting from it...
You need to get a clue about the border...but I think you already have one...
I suspect, if asked, most would want to close the border down completeley between the legal Ports of Entry, which wouldn't do a darned thing to hinder cross-border commerce.
Speaking for myself, when I say 'close the border', that's what I mean, and I certainly have no problem with people crossing from Agua Prieta into Douglas to shop, or vice versa.
An action along the entire southern border mirroring the current MMP action may have the affect you suggest. But it would only last as long as it took for enterprising businessmen to convince their clientele that it really is okay to come back and shop.
And in my book, that's a win-win for both sides.
We all agree that illegal immigration causes many problems. In finding the solution to those problems, we shouldn't create more problems.
So, do you want those pings?
THis will balkanize us. I have Mexican relatives who for years made public statements that, although they were bi-lingual, they insisted that we must know and speak only english in America.
Just come live in Arizona where the kids at the fast food drive up windows can't understand you or you them. Or go to the grocery store and find out that all ads are in Spanish only. Or go to the store and find that Everything is in both languages.
Liberals are driven by feelings undisciplined by logic.
There are many business and civic leaders who would dis-agree with you.
We say we want a revolution, Well, you know, We are going to mark the line. They tell us that it's evolution, Well, you know ,We all want to change the world. But when they talk about open borders, Don't they know that they can count us out?
Don't you know it's gonna be Alright? Alright? Alright?
You know we've got a real solution. Well, you know, We've already started on the plan. We may ask you for a contribution Well, you know ,We are doing what we can. But if they want money for people with minds that hate All I can tell is the ACLU will have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be Alright? Alright? Alright?
We don't need to change the constitution. Well, you know, We just have to stop a Fox. They tell us it's the institution Well, you know. We will close the border instead But if they go carrying pictures of Che and Mao, they ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be Alright? Alright? Alright? Alright? Alright? Alright?
I'll give you a few.
One or two. Just to prove my point.
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