Free Republic

...A former nuclear missile launch center that closed as the Cold War was winding down opened Monday to a public curious to see what life was like at the once top-secret site.

The founder of the pro-border enforcement group, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, will announce Wednesday his plan to challenge Sen. John McCain in the Arizona Republican Senate primary in 2010. On Monday, Minuteman founder Chris Simcox announced he was resigning as head of the organization to seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat held by McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate. McCain, a four-term senator, has faced criticism from border hawks over his support and sponsorship of legislation to establish a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens, allowing them to stay in the United States if they learn English...

Social conservatives tolerated John McCain as the party's nominee, but never trusted him, and he now appears to be facing a serious primary from the right in Arizona next year. Chris Simcox, the founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a prominent figure in the anti-immigration movement, is announcing today he's resigned from the group to run in the 2010 Senate primary. From a forthcoming release: "John McCain has failed miserably in his duty to secure this nation's borders and protect the people of Arizona from the escalating violence and lawlessness," Simcox said. "He has fought real efforts over...

Court Victory For Gilchrist “It was long overdue and warmly welcomed” was the quote made by Jim Gilchrist upon receiving the news, “the hijacker’s case they had fraudulently filed in the name of the Minuteman Project was thrown out of court; on none other, than, Friday the 13th!” There is no doubt Marvin Stewart, Debbie Courtney and Paul Sielski had a very bad Friday the 13th, when they learned Judge Wilkinson threw them out on their ear. Not only that, but once again, Courtney was slammed with a big fat court fine! The sanction was over $ 1,000.00, which is...

Woman suspects shooting, sexual assault tied to her activism on illegal immigration EVERETT -- First a north Everett man was seriously wounded when a narrow-faced stranger burst into his home Dec. 22 and began shooting. On Monday night, while the shooting victim was still in the hospital, his wife called police to report that a trio of intruders had just ambushed her in her kitchen. She was beaten, sexually assaulted and slashed on the back of her neck with a knife, she told officers. Everett police acknowledge they aren't quite sure what to make of the violent events recently reported...

I`ll keep this brief.I think we need a freeper minutemens squad that`ll be ready to respond to any october suprises,ours or their`s.We need freepers willing to compile and share a listing of links to freindly media,talk radio,Fox Cable,web sites and anyone who`ll listen(individuals excluded).When our side hits,we respond with support.When the Rats hit we counter with facts and criticism.What do you,my fellow freepers,think of the idea?Comments,both pro and against are welcome.

Part of my interview with Jim Gilchrist today concerning his recent appearance (July 30th, 2008) in San Francisco to call attention to the sanctuary city status that Mayor Gavin Newsom is presiding over. During the interview, Mr. Gilchrist related the details of the chemical bomb attack against him during the appearance. 08/01/08

Come join the Minuteman and all of us in the Bay Area who are fed up with San Francisco's illegal shielding of alien criminals. PLACE: San Francisco City Hall DATE: Wednesday, July 30th TIME: 11 A.M. We will demand the resignation of Mayor Newsom and criminally negligent District Attorney Kamala Harris, in addition to an end to San Francisco's criminal alien shield - otherwise known as the "Sanctuary City Policy." Three members of the Bologna family are dead as a direct result of this insane policy, and those responsible must be made to feel the heat. Please join us.

As if our military didn't have its hands full in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the Minuteman Project border security group seems to think Minutemen might make good narcotics cops. Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist suggested in recent radio interviews that the U.S. give Mexico 12 months to corral its criminal drug cartels and rising violence, particularly in border towns such as Juarez and Tijuana—or deploy the U.S. Army to do the job. That's the Minutemen. Their remedies for the drug war next door sound simplistic, but at least they're paying attention. While most of us north of the border...

By Jerry Seper - The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps spent $652,000 last year putting civilian volunteers on the U.S.-Mexico border in its call for better border security, about $51,000 less than it collected in donations and registration fees, according to federal records. The organization's second Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 report since its creation in April 2005 as a 501(c)4 tax-exempt charitable trust was a departure from last year, when MCDC — then under fire for a lack of financial accountability — spent $450,000, or $31,000 more than it collected. Questions over the organization's finances and its involvement in...

TUCSON, Ariz. – Volunteers who intermittently stake out portions of the southern Arizona desert hoping to spot and report suspected illegal immigrants will begin another monthlong operation this weekend. Members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will stage their annual spring border watch operation for the fourth year southwest of Tucson, near Arivaca and the port of entry at Sasabe – an area popular with smugglers bringing illegal immigrants across the Mexican border. Other group members plan border watches in Texas, California and Washington. It actually will be the fifth year for a number of volunteers who began with the...

Traditionally tight-knit anti-illegal immigration organizations are roiled in internal conflict. Struggles for power and finances have led leaders in the movement to split ties with Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project. Bickering continues over who has control of the original Minuteman organization and once faithful members are now deserting the group. Barbed e-mails and accusations fly among the former Minuteman loyalists. “I’m fighting on three fronts,” Gilchrist said. “I’m fighting the Federal government, I’m fighting the reconquistas, and I’m fighting the people defecting from my own organization.” Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project, which has become nearly synonymous with the anti-illegal...

The Napa woman whose legs were crushed when she was hit by a drunk driver Sunday night has a long, tough road to recovery. Doctors at Queen of the Valley Medical Center operated on Lilian Clark the night of the crash, amputating both of her legs just above the knee, according to her husband, John Clark. Clark, 38, is the mother of two boys, 4 and 6. She was pinned between the rear bumper of her car and a 1990 Plymouth driven by Francisco Pacheco, 24, of Napa.

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and Minuteman Co-Founder Jim Gilchrist have been documented lying to America by the Washington Times after false headlines ran on Tuesday proclaiming Mike Huckabee would try to remove birthright citizenship from the Constitution. The article confirms that Huckabee lied on CNN about his campaign being contacted about Gilchrist's false statements and Gilchrist lied in a release about Huckabee's immigration stances. Gilchrist put out a press release on Iowa's election eve, under the fake name of "Perry Emerson" that contained several false statements and embellishments of Huckabee's immigration stances. The release claimed Huckabee would try to reverse...

Noting that he might not agree 100 percent on immigration with Huckabee, the firebrand illegal immigration opponent said Huckabee's recently released immigration plan won him over. "The governor has a plan and I appreciate his plan. That's why I'm supporting him. He's one of the few who's actually brought forth a plan and gone public with it. It shows to me that he's willing to engage in the tough love necessary to fix this problem," Gilchrist said. Gilchrist, whose organization is separate from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, has drawn protests in appearances at college campuses in recent months for...

Legal Challenge to Immigration Law Enforcement Dismissed!Rule of Law Prevails in VirginiaA federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Friday that challenged a suburban Washington county's (Virginia) recent effort to clamp down on illegal immigrants, one of the toughest such crackdowns in the country.U.S. District Judge James Cacheris said the plaintiffs (pro-illegal alien invasion supporters) lacked legal standing to challenge measures passed earlier this year by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.One of the resolutions requires police to check the immigration status of people they detain if they have reason to suspect the person is an illegal immigrant. A second resolution...

It was supposed to be 14 feet high and topped with razor wire. It was also supposed to send a message to Washington that if the government wouldn't seal off the southern border, volunteers could. Almost two years later, the reality is a five-strand barbed-wire barrier that ranchers dismiss as a mere cattle fence.

On the spot where New York's mighty World Trade Center stood, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.'s anointed designer, Michael Arad, decrees that there be . . . just two huge, square, "reflecting" pools. Maybe you can gaze at your navel through them. In a complex slated to cost $1 billion, this urban swamp is called "Reflecting Absence." Absence, indeed. What these modern war memorials have in common with each other is nothing. They portray nothingness. They have no people in them, never mind men carrying guns or swords. . . [T]o list deaths without comment about what they did in...

After a hostile reception in April, Chris Simcox's return Monday to the University of Texas at San Antonio was much quieter, though not entirely free of protest. Simcox, president of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, was invited to campus by UTSA's chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas to talk about the values of the Minutemen, often-armed citizens who patrol U.S. borders reporting illegal activity to police. He spoke in the Retama Auditorium at the University Center. A handful of students chanting "Racist, fascist, go away!" interrupted Simcox during his speech, but were led away in orderly fashion by...

CRYSTAL LAKE – The Illinois Minuteman Project’s anti-illegal immigration seminar at McHenry County College went off with little contention Friday, two months after its original forum was canceled. Rosanna Pulido, who recently stepped down from her position as the organization’s director to become a field representative for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, briefly addressed the first planned seminar, citing the Holiday Inn’s stance that she had not been truthful in saying who she was. “Folks, that’s a lie,” she said. “I’m Rosanna Pulido. I’ve been Rosanna Pulido for 51 years.” She also said MCC president Walt Packard told her...

PALOMINAS — More than 40 people turned out Saturday for the Patriots’ Border Alliance’s kickoff rally of a month-long effort intended to “help stop the flow of illegal immigration into our sovereign nation.” “Operation: Allied Minutemen” will run through October. The mission is to coordinate and organize different Minuteman groups in Palominas and work together to spot and report illegal activity to the U.S. Border Patrol. “Also, we will work to shut down this heavily trafficked area by maintaining a minuteman presence across the Huachuca Mountain regions and areas near our border,” the group says in a press release. Participants...

While ABCÂ’s Chris Cuomo played softball with Columbia University president Lee Bollinger on the upcoming speech of Iranian president Ahmadinejad, CNNÂ’s John Roberts directed tough questions to John Coatsworth, dean for ColumbiaÂ’s School of International and Public Affairs. Roberts opened the interview with a question which summarized AhmadinejadÂ’s record. "Here's a leader who's advocated the destruction of Israel, denied the Holocaust, and is accused by our government, the United States government, of supplying both fighters and equipment to insurgents in Iraq, to kill U.S. troops. Why would you ever want him on your campus?" Coatsworth appeared during the 7 am...

I took some time off from serious news and politics for few days following my last post. The American media did too, but that’s not unusual. When I tired of the newest chapters in the sad lives and times of Orenthal James and Britney and the ensuing solemn discussions about his guilt and her fitness to raise children, I thought I’d poke around and see if there was anything else important and deserving of my attention - other than football. I found some things interesting and telling. I may meander a bit, but I’ll eventually arrive at a point. Orenthal...

Columbia University students have scrapped plans to hear from the founder of the Minuteman Project - a year after their classmates violently interrupted a speech by the anti-illegal-immigration activist. The nonpartisan Columbia Political Union voted late Monday night to cancel a planned Oct. 4 appearance by Jim Gilchrist, who is based in California. The student group said in a statement that

The Victor Valley Airshow Association told a local Minutemen chapter Wednesday morning that they cannot have a booth at the annual airshow Saturday after an immigrant rights activist threatened to stage a protest. The airshow association acted quickly after receiving a protest threat from Hesperia activist Jennaya Dunlap from the national Immigrant Solidarity Network that same morning, Banks said.

MISSION VIEJO - John Paul Ledesma was pumped. His adrenaline flowing, he was ready for his day center stage amid the national immigration debate. A few days before, he had addressed the Minuteman Project's local support chapter, the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, had been written up in several newspapers and was a guest on the John and Ken Show on KFI/640 AM and Fox News. At 6 a.m. he hit the University Athletic Club in Newport Beach. He did bench curls with 15 to 35 pounds. The 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound Mission Viejo council member needed strength and confidence. He was...

The Minuteman Express News by Perry Emerson Minuteman Project Receives Glowing Financial Audit Report The long-awaited results of a financial audit of the Minuteman Project were presented publicly today with a positive audit report that establishes the integrity of that organization and its president, Jim Gilchrist. The audit firm’s “unqualified” report is the most prestigious and complimentary opinion that can be given to a company by the accounting and audit industry in the United States. The audit was conducted by the Burbank, Ca. CPA firm of Terrence Milaney. “I am elated,” Gilchrist said of the results of the two-month-long audit...

Time Proves Unkind To Minuteman MovementBy ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ   Anti-immigration activist Mike Forest waves signs at passing traffic while monitoring a day labor site in Cornelius, Ore., before he was tossed out of the Minuteman organization. (Photo by Olivia Bucks)     [Portland, OR] -- Packaged as a patriotic crusade in 2005 to safeguard the United States' borders and pressure legislators to bear down on illegal immigration, the Minuteman movement saw chapters spring up in nearly every state.The message was clear, and it spread quickly: If you are here illegally, you don't deserve what America has to offer.Abruptly in May,...

Thursday Night 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the Wake Up America Radio Show. Hear an exclusive personal interview with Presidential Candidate, Duncan Hunter.

Several former Minuteman leaders, angry over the organization's failure to account for hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in donations, have formed their own border-vigil operation. The Patriots' Border Alliance, led by Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leaders fired in May for raising questions about the group's finances, says it will carry on the mission of fighting illegal entry into the U.S. with volunteers who have "chosen to stand down" from MCDC. In a letter to Minuteman volunteers, former MCDC Deputy Executive Director Bob Wright said none of those terminated by MCDC President Chris Simcox "ever had their dedication questioned...

The Kansas City Council registered its disapproval Thursday with Frances Semler’s controversial appointment to the parks board, but Mayor Mark Funkhouser is not backing down. In a highly unusual move, the council voted 9-3 to urge Semler to resign, or if she refuses to do so within a week, to ask the mayor to recommend her removal. She has been the target of criticism because of her involvement with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group that opposes illegal immigration but that some view as a violent vigilante hate group. The council resolution was a symbolic rebuke of one of...

In its first rebuke of Mayor Mark Funkhouser, the City Council has condemned his controversial appointment to the parks board. The council voted 9-3-1 this afternoon to call for Frances Semler to immediately resign her days-old appointment to the Board of Parks and Recreation. In a resolution, the council said if she does not do so within a week then Funkhouser should recommend the council remove her. It is a symbolic resolution that says Semeler’s appointment will be “a divisive force in our community rendering the work” of the parks board “suspect.” While not legally binding, it is a public...

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' political action committee, whose mission is to "find and support" political candidates to secure America's borders, raised more than $300,000 in the first three months of this year -- but gave less than 3 percent of it to any political campaign. According to Federal Election Commission records, two $5,000 contributions to Republican Bill Greene, a conservative activist competing in a crowded field to succeed the late Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood in Georgia, were the Minuteman PAC's only reported political gifts between Jan. 1 and March 31 -- 2.9 percent of the $301,176 it raised and...

The top leaders of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps have been terminated by the group's president, Chris Simcox, for requesting a meeting to discuss a lack of financial accountability by the organization's leadership. The purge was ordered by Mr. Simcox, who came under fire last year over questions about how much money the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) had raised and where it had gone, and included several top lieutenants, most of whom have been with the organization since its April 2005 founding......[snip][snip].. The committee also asked for a "full explanation" of the relationship between MCDC and other groups, including...

BISBEE — At least two state-level officers of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps have been expelled from the civilian border-watch group after raising questions about its executive leadership, particularly that of MCDC President Chris Simcox. According to internal documents that surfaced on the Internet this week, 18 state MCDC leaders sent a memo on May 8 to Simcox, Vice President Carmen Mercer and Executive Director Al Garza asking them to attend a meeting in Phoenix to address perceived problems, including a lack of financial accountability and Simcox’s leadership style. In a memo dated May 14, Simcox responded by denouncing the...

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to Hold the First Meeting of New Chapter Meeting Day, Time and Location Johnnie's NY Pizza 1444 3rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, California Monday, May 21st - 7:00 PM (punctual) Bring your MCDC membership card (IMPORTANT) Membership Applications Available at the Meeting Free Parking at the GALLERIA corner of Broadway and 3 rd Street Promenade (This corner is about 50 steps from the restaurant location on 3 rd Street Promenade) http://www.laminutemen.com/

VIRGINIA BEACH - Gathering at the Oceanfront, a series of speakers urged Hampton Roads voters to fire elected officials who don't address immigration - and demand that police enforce the law equally and question how decisions made in Washington affect people's quality of life. "Call Webb, Warner and Drake, and tell them in a nice way that their jobs depend on their vote on immigration," said Bill Buchanan of the American Council for Immigration Reform in Arlington. "Do nothing, and things will get worse. You must direct your efforts to make this state less attractive to immigrants."About 50 people...

Chris Simcox, president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, came to Tangeman University Center Cinema Thursday to address the issue of illegal immigration. The defense corps is a civil group that guards the US borders. The University of Cincinnati was the final stop on Simcox's 10-university tour this spring. Erin Shearer, chairwoman of the College Republicans, invited him to speak. The problem of illegal immigration is not just a conservative or republican issue, it is one that affects the entire community, Shearer said. Simcox, a former California educator, started his organization following a trip to the Mexican-American border a week...

Minuteman Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist dropped the remaining portions of his lawsuit against fellow anti-illegal immigration activists today, bringing to a conclusion a legal battle for control of the group. Gilchrist has set up a new organization – the Jim Gilchrist Minuteman Project Inc. – and said he is ready to move ahead with his cause. "I am delighted that rather than spending the next two years in litigation and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of (activists') contributions for attorney fees … I can focus full time on the critical issue of illegal immigration," Gilchrist said in a press...

Minuteman Announces Issuance of Preliminary Injunction And Dismissal of Action The Orange County Superior Court has issued a preliminary injunction that orders former Minuteman Project, Inc. advisory board members Marvin Stewart, Deborah Courtney-Peterson and Barbara Coe to stop diverting or spending Minuteman funds. With this much need relief in hand, Minuteman. announces that it has dismissed its action without prejudice to refile the lawsuit if further misconduct occurs. Minuteman Founder and President Jim Gilchrist stated: “I am delighted that rather than spending the next 2 years in litigation and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions for Attorney fees...

Anti-illegal immigration activist Chris Simcox split from Jim Gilchrist last year, and favors neither side in Gilchrist's current lawsuit. Jim Gilchrist goes back to court Wednesday, this time hoping to convince Judge Randell Wilkinson not to place his Minuteman Project Inc. into an independent receivership while control of the group is litigated. This tussle with former allies isn't the first of Gilchrist's internal conflicts in the battle against illegal immigration. While Gilchrist was running a border-watch operation with Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox in April 2005, the two had a falling out. Simcox went on to form his own group. Last...

A simmering illegal-immigration debate at the University of Texas at San Antonio— where 45 percent of students are Hispanic — erupted into a heated protest Wednesday during an outdoor speech by Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group of volunteers who patrol the Mexican border to stop immigrants from entering the country illegally. UTSA's chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas invited Simcox to speak to draw attention to the lack of security on the border, said Laura Morales, the group's executive director. Liberal groups descended on the Simcox talk, booing and chanting "Racist, fascist go...

Demonstration disrupts speech by controversial group's founder Police escorted five protesters outside during a Tuesday evening speech by Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, arresting one and detaining another, said University spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon. The Young Conservatives of Texas hosted Simcox, who spoke at the Geology Building. Constant chants and heckling from demonstrators hindered Simcox's speech, resulting in the police's intervention. Weldon said one individual was arrested with a criminal trespassing charge, and another was detained briefly for "interfering with a police officer." The Minuteman Corps, which consists of citizen volunteers, aids in the discovery of illegal...

People reporting group handcuffed them REYNOSA - A human rights group in Mexico is taking a stand against the Minutemen. Fortino Lopez Balcazar says, "They're dangerous and their entire group is dangerous for people who want to cross illegally." Balcazar is the president of Reynosa's human rights organization. He tells us he doesn't advise people to cross illegally, but he does tell them how to do it safely if they're going to do it. The organization says it's out to warn people what they're up against when they cross the border. Balcazar says people who cross and have been deported...

The Minuteman organization will soon be in the Rio Grande Valley. Their presence has many on the Mexican side of the border concerned over their activities, especially the Mexican Consulate in McAllen. The Minuteman's first border operation will start this weekend and just as they plan to have their eyes on illegal crossings, the Mexican Government will have their eyes on them. Miriam Medel, Mexican Consulate spokesperson, tells Action 4 News they'll be very vigilant all weekend. "We want to make sure that no human rights are violated, and make sure that it's only the authorized personnel, the people who...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - It was a match made in activist heaven. Barbara Coe had toiled for more than a decade against illegal immigration, becoming the gritty grande dame of the movement. Just as progress was sputtering, along came Jim Gilchrist and his two-week Minuteman citizen border surveillance. [snip]....Today, the Gilchrist-Coe partnership lay in tatters. On the eve of congressional debate over legalizing those now in the country without documents - a proposal opposed by Gilchrist and Coe - the fiercest battle for the activists is among themselves.[snip] Internal conflicts began surfacing late last year. Gilchrist bounced a series of...

UPDATED: 7:07 am CST March 9, 2007 SAN ANTONIO -- Volunteers from a border patrol watchdog group are monitoring the streets of Kerrville to look out for a suspected child predator. The volunteers from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps came to help the Hill Country city after some citizens reported child predator incidents. A few months ago, in front of a community center, a young girl claimed that someone tried to grab her while she waited for a school bus in the early morning darkness. Another person reported a similar incident at an apartment complex in February. Several days after...

WICHITA, Kan. - An uneasy alliance on illegal immigration has been forged in this rural Midwestern state between the Kansas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and the Peoples Alliance for Latino Advancement. But not everyone in the state's Hispanic community is happy to see it. The two groups held a joint public forum Thursday night in Wichita to outline their common mission on stopping illegal immigration. Most of the 70 or so people who came were white - the few Hispanics who attended said others told them they feared being deported if they came. Some said a Spanish-language radio station warned...

"..With 1,200 volunteers accepting Gilchrist's call and a handful of closely-picked advisors assisting the MPP, Gilchrist spearheaded the largest minuteman assembly since our Founding Fathers in 1776. But unbeknownst to Gilchrist, there were some foxes in the hen house. Three of the MMP's advisors, and Gilchrist's close friends, decided that Gilchrist had overstayed his welcome as MMP's president. Last week, Marvin Stewart, Barbara Coe, and Debra Courtney, a.k.a. Debra Peterson voted to remove Gilchrist from the post he has served since MMP came into existence and transfer authority of the MMP's bank accounts, email lists, Web site and letterhead to...

Advocates offer support to workers; others aim to expose illegal status GARLAND – Tucked between railroad tracks and a cemetery is a site that is part of a national debate over blue-collar workers outfitted with sturdy work boots but flimsy work documents. On one side are U.S. citizens who want to expose and shame employers who hire illegal immigrant workers. On the other are Mexican diplomats and U.S. advocates who want to ensure that both legal and illegal immigrant workers get a fair shake. And in the middle is the city of Garland, along with others in North Texas that...