Minuteman founder leaving border early but volunteers to remain [Minuteman Project declares victory]

THE CITIZENS SHOULD FINALLY BE OUTRAGED!” Cong. Mark Foley
Source: LOU DOBBS - CNN
Tonights Lou Dobbs is a must see! If you miss it read the transcript later at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ldt.html

Minutemen Project organizers Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrest announced today that the project will be extended across the Mexican border and part of the Canadian border.

Protests of businesses hiring illegal aliens are being organized to cover the entire United States. Now, we can ALL be involved!

The MMP has recieved requests of over 10,000 people wanting to actively join the biggest neighborhood watch in history.

Congressman Mark Foley (R), ways and means committee is interviewed and states about our border security and illegal invasion, “This is as important as anything we do!”

Then, Dick Schneider of the Sierra Club discusses whether the group should push for limits on immigration in order to cut population growth.

Today’s poll:

Do you believe the impact of excessive illegal immigration is a legitimate environmental concern?

Yes 94% 1010 votes

No 6% 59 votes

Total: 1069 votes

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Transcript is up, here's a bit on the MMP

DOBBS: Tonight, new developments in the Minuteman Project, the project that brought volunteers, hundreds of them, together in Arizona, to help patrol our southern border with Mexico, you know, the same group of volunteers who Mexican President Vicente Fox called vigilantes and whom President George Bush also referred to as vigilantes, unfortunately.

The volunteer group today said it is planning now a major expansion along our southern border, and it plans to begin monitoring our northern border, as well. The Minutemen are also launching a new operation to expose U.S. companies hiring illegal aliens. Casey Wian has our report. Casey?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, it's really a remarkable announcement today of an expansion of the Minuteman Project that's a result of the project overwhelming success, that even succeeds the expectation of its founders. Let me tell you some numbers we just got from the Minuteman Project today.

So far, as of today, 770 minuteman volunteers have been trained by the project's organizers and monitor the border for at least one full day's shift. They say they've had over 10,000 calls and e-mails from people interested in volunteering to help monitor this 23-mile stretch of Arizona border. They also say the Minutemen have assisted in 280 apprehensions of illegal aliens along that stretch of the border. Now, the Border Patrol of course denies those numbers saying they are inflated. But it does not deny the fact that the Minutemen have in effect shut down that stretch of the Arizona border by their mere presence.

What is going to happen now is, Chris Simcox, one of the founders and organizers of the Minuteman Project, when the it -- when the project in Arizona ends at the end of this month, Simcox will begin consulting with organizers in California, Texas, and New Mexico to set up a Minuteman Project for the entire southern border, and they expect that to be operational by this fall. Perhaps in October. And another expansion of the program, northward. They have volunteers in Michigan and Idaho who are also interested in monitoring the Canadian border and that could begin even sooner because Simcox says the volunteers don't need as much training because the Canadian border is not as violent as the Mexican border. Also, Jim Gilchrist, one of the other co-founders of the Minuteman Project is going to be leaving active duty in Arizona to begin, as you mentioned, Lou, concentrating on employers who hire illegal aliens. He's going to be organizing protests -- something he has shown with the Minuteman Project he's very good at -- organizing protests against employers of illegal aliens, and he's going to be after cities who sponsor day laborer centers which, of course, are overwhelmingly populated by a majority of illegal aliens. He's going to be traveling to Washington, D.C. next week to meet with the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. That at the invitation of Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo who has sent the Minuteman Project a letter of congratulations saying, job well done so far. Lou?

DOBBS: You know, it's absolutely right, Casey. I had the opportunity to spend a little time down there with you along the border with the Minutemen. The success is remarkable. What is the reaction of Chris Simcox and Gilchrist and others, because they have -- basically, were vilified in the weeks and months leading up to this project. They have obviously conducted themselves extremely well. It's a terrific group of concerned, caring Americans. What's they're reaction now, that they're succeeding and some of the rhetoric about them is tapering off a bit?

WIAN: Well, as you know I've spent a lot of time with Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist over the past several months -- the preparations leading up to the Minuteman Project, and then throughout the project so far this month. And before it began things were tense. They were very, I will say, stressed out. Very worried how things were going to go. Now it has shifted to overwhelming joy. They're thrilled. They feel vindicated. And that's reflected by the fact they are taking the project national -- Lou.

DOBBS: And demonstrating to a national audience the importance that remains in this country of citizens participating actively in their community, and being certainly an active -- about the issues that are great concern to them and, of course, importance to the country and certainly this is a high among those issues.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/18/ldt.01.html

INVASION USA
Border Patrol union
supports Minutemen
Says it has had no complaints about monitors, blasts Bush over amnesty

Posted: April 18, 2005
5:00 p.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

The largest local union of Border Patrol agents in the country has declared its support for the Minuteman Project in Arizona, while at the same time slamming both the American Civil Liberties Union and President Bush.

According to its website, the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, which covers the Tucson sector of the agency, the volunteers involved in the border-monitoring Minuteman Project have been nothing but supportive.

We want to make it clear – because we've had a lot of questions about this – we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen," says a statement on the site. "Every report we've received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents; they're courteous. Many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever."

The group blames the ACLU for setting off ground sensors in the area of the Minutemen activities:

"Reports of [Minutemen] causing 'ground sensors' to go off are exaggerated because most of those are being set off by the ACLU sneaking around trying to find the Minutemen doing something wrong."

As WorldNetDaily reported, the ACLU has sent representatives to the 23-mile Arizona border area to monitor the Minutemen and report any civil-liberties abuses to authorities. Instead, said Minuteman Project spokesman Grey Deacon, the law group's people are flashing lights, sounding horns and warning off illegals and their "coyote" human smugglers from entering territory patrolled by the volunteers. Deacon claims such activity amounts to aiding and abetting illegal aliens.

The Minuteman Project has attracted hundreds of volunteers, many legally carrying guns and waving flags, from across the country. They plan to keep watch around the clock until the end of the month, intimidating illegal aliens with their presence and alerting the Border Patrol via cell phones or radios when they see people crossing.

The Border Patrol local emphasizes the Minuteman Project is "shifting the bulk of the illegal-alien traffic out of the Naco corridor."

The statement then takes the president to task for his immigration proposal.

"If only President Bush were so supportive of the rank-and-file agents," the site states. "While President Bush hangs out thousands of miles away in the White House, these people are willing to give up their time and energy to actually do something. While President Bush entices millions of illegal aliens to keep coming with his amnesty proposals and his demoralizing statements that he doesn't want Border Patrol agents chasing 'good-hearted people just coming here to take jobs Americans won't do,' the Minutemen are trying to get our laws enforced.

"The Minutemen have made it very clear that they fully support rank-and-file Border Patrol agents. If only we had such support from the politicians we have to work for (aren't we really supposed to be working for the citizens of this country anyway?)"

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43859

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.