Minuteman coming to Idaho!

[cfree]

Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Apr. 19, 2005 12:00 AM

TOMBSTONE - Leaders of a controversial civilian border patrol movement on Monday announced plans to extend patrols in southern Arizona and start "copycat" efforts across the country by next fall.

Dispelling rumors of an early end to the monthlong Minuteman Project, which began April 1, organizers said they plan to draft a guide on how to start a civilian border patrol and "franchise" the movement in California, Texas, New Mexico, Michigan and Idaho by next October.

They also plan to launch protests of businesses with a track record of hiring undocumented immigrants, to bring attention to the lack of enforcement in the nation's interior.

The announcement came as volunteers along the Arizona-Mexico border claimed a "significant" drop in the number of undocumented immigrants crossing through targeted smuggling corridors; the U.S. Border Patrol said the project remains a "hindrance."

Law enforcement agencies in southeastern Arizona say they are seeing sharp increases in the number of undocumented immigrants to the east and west of the volunteers' patrol area.

Still, project organizer Chris Simcox said volunteers will come off the line for about a week on May 1 to conduct "video surveillance" of targeted areas, then return to patrols during the summer. He pledged that volunteers will continue manning posts in southern Arizona beyond the end of the initial operation "until we are relieved by the National Guard or the U.S. military."

But with heavy criticism from President Bush, top levels of the Border Patrol and refusal from Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to dispatch the National Guard, organizers face an uphill battle.

"This is really a job for the federal government or the Border Patrol, and we should not further stretch the limited resources of our National Guard for that purpose," said Pati Urias, Napolitano's spokeswoman.

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But by the time Ramirez-Castro made the journey north from Acapulco, he found Naco's boarding houses nearly empty, and heard warnings that Americans were "hunting" for undocumented immigrants.

"I'm still hoping to cross," he said, "but a lot of people are just going home. Now we have to walk further, and it's more dangerous."

On Sunday night, Minuteman volunteer Dale Butcher sat on the U.S. side of the border, staking out a culvert frequented by undocumented immigrants. He set up a "trip wire," a rope with beer cans attached to the ends, to hear if anyone tried to sneak past his post, one of 11 that night along Arizona 92.

Butcher, a 44-year-old pharmaceutical salesman from Amarillo, Texas, said he was drawn to help the project out of "civic duty" and frustration with his rising taxes, fueled in part by increasing welfare rolls, he said.

He welcomed the project's expansion to Texas and said he plans to encourage his friends to sign up, calling the efforts peaceful and legal.

"This is our Second Amendment right to form a citizen's militia," he said, "so you can be protected against decisions made by the government that are not in the best interest of the country."

Why Idaho?

I like the beer can trip wire trick. I bet the trip wire grows 100 feet a day!

 

[powderburn]

I've got to start planning a new route to smuggle geese south.

 

[Mojave]

Idaho? Is there really a problem with undocumented Canadians around here?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Oh boy, I will feel safe with the Lawn Chair Brigade guarding our border....