divisiveness = less potential liberal/demorat voters
Posted on 07/21/2002 7:59:23 AM PDT by Tancredo Fan
Californian plans private border patrol: Hereford to be headquarters
By BILL HESS
Sierra Vista Herald/Review - July 21, 2002
COCHISE COUNTY -- A California man is organizing a group of volunteers to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and he will headquarter his efforts in Hereford.
Glenn Spencer, who founded the Voice of Citizens Together, said it is past time for something concrete to be done about the growing problems caused by illegal immigrants and drug smuggling. He believes the citizens of the area have to join in the fight.
The Sherman Oaks, Calif., man said his new organization called American Border Patrol does not suggest armed patrols of citizens along the border. He wants to use electronic devices to track and report illegal activities to regular law enforcement agencies beginning Sept. 1.
"Today's technology can be used to provide information to regular Border Patrol agents, giving them more eyes to see where the problems are," he said Saturday speaking from his California office.
One state legislator says if the group sets up shop in Cochise County it will create more divisiveness in the community.
Rep. Bobby Lugo, who represents most of the county in the State House, said Spencer and those who support him are vigilantes who pretend to use the law as a way to interfere with legal procedures.
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever isn't pleased with Spencer's plans.
The radio talk show host visited Sierra Vista in May 2000. During a public meeting, he accused Dever of not doing enough to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.
Dever explained that federal law prohibits certain actions by local law enforcement agencies when it comes to illegal immigrants.
Spencer questioned Dever's dedication then later apologized to the sheriff.
On Saturday, Spencer said he has visited Southern Arizona many times and likes Cochise County.
He believes his American Border Patrol will have the support of local residents who are tired of the illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.
He described those opposed to his philosophy as "just a few radicals."
The American Border Patrol was recently incorporated in Arizona as a tax-free nonprofit organization. The new organization is separate from the Voice of Citizens Together and the American Patrol, Spencer said.
Spencer said the location of his new headquarters will be kept secret, and access to it will be limited to a select few.
Saying he has been physically attacked in the past, Spencer also plans to keep the location of his home secret.
Spencer wants volunteers to monitor the border using video cameras, cell phones and radios to provide information on illegal activities.
Part of the plan is to set up remote cameras in secret locations to capture illegal activities as they are happening so that can be broadcast immediately, Spencer said.
Volunteers will have the support of trained people, knowledgeable in electronic systems, and what is gathered will be put on the Internet with the aim to help law enforcement agencies, he said.
Although American Border Patrol is not associated with the U.S. Border Patrol, Spencer said two of the corporation's officers are former U.S Border Patrol employees -- Ron Sanders of Tucson, who once headed the agency's Tucson Sector, and Bill King, who lives in Big Bear City, Calif., was a sector chief in another part of the country.
U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Ryan Scudder said the agency has no comment on Spencer's plan.
Dever said he hopes Spencer and his group obey the law. They must understand that much of the property on the American side of the border in the county is private, the sheriff said.
Dever partially agrees that the border has been a sieve for illegal activities, especially in the past five years. He said he would like the U.S. Border Patrol strengthened rather than have private citizens monitoring the border.
The problem hasn't "significantly abated and it will not until the federal government does more," the sheriff said.
Spencer said the rationale for his new group is to provide information for the federal government to use in making decisions, which could include more use of the military.
Presently there is no need to use the military as "shock troops," armed soldiers with backup combat support on the border, Spencer said.
What has to be done is to use more military technology, which he said military intelligence officers have told him is available and not being used to protect the border.
With homeland security concerns high, more has to be done to ensure order is as tight as possible and American Border Patrol will be another tool in that defensive arsenal, Spencer added.
Spencer said he and others decided to narrow their scope from the entire United States to the critical border area.
The American Border Patrol is separate from Spencer's the Voice of Citizens Together and the American Patrol, Spencer stressed during the interview.
Speaking after a Democratic Party meeting Saturday, Lugo said Spencer's plan "will bring division to Cochise County. The county is already divided and we don't need any more division."
The county should seek ways to unify behind the issue so the illegal immigration problem can be addressed more logically, Lugo said.
To this end, a new guest-worker program and providing economic help in Mexico will be better than having U.S. citizens monitoring the border, he said.
Spencer's approach could create dangerous situations that could get out of hand with someone being killed, Lugo said.
divisiveness = less potential liberal/demorat voters
Calling all Plein Air Artists and their ever ready cameras!
A border is exactly that - a dividing line. Enforce it or risk losing the very identity of the country.
Certainly 'division' has an appropriate place in our vocabulary. Use it or risk losing your mind.
Lugo is feeding off the illegal votes and division for his political benefit. Unity is for the citizens or it is a fraud.
Is that said as a threat?
Even if not, it is precisely the kind of ambiguous statement that invariably inflames people toward the very act it presumes to be against. Great way to end an article - NOT.
Does that mean he thinks those poor mexicans who just come here to work might be packing weapons to use against Americans patrolling their land? ....who'd of thunk it
Why, is right!
Here is a POLL to voice youself on
A private border patrol?
in the local paper for Tucson.
INS won't return phone calls.
The jail only holds 10 inmates.
Crime is off the scale.
There are 12 reported, but unsolved and uninvestigated murders.
We are over 1000 miles from the mexican border.
Saw this is on the American Patrol website earlier today.
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