Posted on 09/24/2002 8:55:06 AM PDT by Tancredo Fan
Patrol adds locals
By BILL HESS
Herald/Review - 9/23/02
HEREFORD -- The American Border Patrol will explain its plans to monitor the U.S.-Mexico frontier and introduce its leaders Sunday.
Glenn Spencer, the group's executive director, said this morning four local residents have been added to the patrol's board of directors.
Joining the seven-member board are: Richard Humphries of Sierra Vista, Iris Lynch of Hereford, Francis McWilliams of Sierra Vista and Hannah Siegel of McNeal, Spencer said.
Spencer is chairman of the board. The two other members are former U.S. Border Patrol officials, Bill King and Ron Sanders.
King, of California, is the former chief U.S. Border Patrol Agent. Sanders, of Tucson, is the former chief agent of the federal agency's Tucson Sector.
The group will meet with the public at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Windemere Hotel and Conference Center in Sierra Vista.
Spencer said the meeting is to explain the who, what and how of the American Border Patrol and to emphasize the organization is not a vigilante group but rather an association formed to help address the nation's border issues including illegal immigration.
It was important to have local people on the board for control and having four of them gives them the majority vote "and they can fire me," Spencer said.
The transplanted Californian said since he arrived and established a home and a presence in Cochise County he has learned a lot about the issues.
The American Border Patrol is going to go about setting up its programs slowly. They will include high-tech surveillance capabilities. Members will "get our feet wet first," Spencer said, "we don't want to go about this in a haphazard way."
Hopefully at the Sunday meeting people will become enthused about the American Border Patrol and will want to help the organization obtain information about illegal activities along the international boundary. It will then provide the information nationally and help law enforcement agencies do their jobs, he said.
Scheduled to speak Sunday are Spencer, King, Sanders and Rick Oltman. He is the western field director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Oltman also is scheduled to appear before the SouthEast Arizona Republican Club at 6 p.m. Friday at the National Bank of Arizona's meeting room at 1160 E. Fry Blvd. Oltman's talk to the Republican club is "Terrorism and Immigration."
Spencer said he has some negative views to overcome, and that includes him being labeled a racist and a neo-Nazi.
He and his other organization the American Patrol, which is separate from the American Border Patrol, has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Spencer said if anyone has documents proving he is a racist he would appreciate seeing them. He added he has asked for the law center to provide him with proof, but none has been sent. "I challenge them
I think that having the American Border Patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border monitoring and reporting on activities there is going to help bring the problem of illegal immigration from Mexico into clear focus for the many Americans who still aren't convinced or simply don't yet understand that illegal immigration is indeed a major problem for the United States.
Maybe this is already online somewhere and I haven't heard about it?
Best regards.
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