Minuteman Project Expands to Northern Border

CNSNews.com | September 16, 2005
By Rick Docksai

(CNSNews.com) - The Minuteman Project, which a group of citizens launched last April in Arizona to protect the border against the infiltration of illegal aliens from Mexico, is expanding on Oct. 1.

Minuteman volunteers will add the rest of the Mexican border and eight states along the Canadian border to their patrolling responsibilities. The group not only hopes to spot and report illegal immigrants trying to sneak into the U.S. It will ratchet up the pressure on politicians to take action against illegal immigration and picket/advertise against businesses who hire illegal immigrants.

Leaders of the Minuteman Project reportedly want to patrol the Canadian border in order to guard against terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminal elements that they fear might try to slip across.

Telephone calls seeking comment from a representative of the Minuteman Project for this article were not returned. However, statements on the group's website attempt to defuse any criticism that the Minuteman Project espouses vigilante tactics in protecting the U.S. border.

"The Minuteman Project is not a call to arms," a website statement declares, "but a call to voices seeking a peaceful and respectable resolve to the chaotic neglect by members of our local, state and federal governments charged with applying U.S. immigration law."

The group claims it was formed as a result of "our government failing to do its most basic duty: protecting each state in the Union against invasion."

T J Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, credited the Minutemen with raising awareness of a problem that he said too many people overlook. "The key help that the Minuteman movement gives us is focusing public attention on the security of our borders and the difficult job that we have in maintaining it," Bonner said. "It's not necessarily doing the Border Patrol's job or even spotting illegals for them."

Bonner said he shares the desire for better security along America's borders. "Illegal immigrants are everywhere. And in many cases they're taking jobs that Americans would like to have."

He also blamed illegal aliens for eventually causing lower wages for unskilled labor jobs. "There are plenty of Americans who want their jobs. It's just most people can't afford those jobs anymore. When the jobs paid 18 dollars an hour, there was no shortage of people willing to take those jobs," Bonner said.

However, protecting the nation against terrorism should be a more pressing concern than jobs, Bonner said. "For every person we catch, two or three slip by us," he said. "When it's that easy for a regular person to slip across the border, think about how easy it is for someone who's very well trained and very well financed."

The border patrol "rank and file as a rule are very appreciative of the work the Minuteman Project [does to bring] attention to the job we do," Bonner added. At the same time, he said there is a large element of danger to which the Minutemen need to pay attention.

"We don't encourage people to go down there to patrol because it's very dangerous work. There are drug dealers and criminals they are facing. Our agents get shot at all the time, and so what's to stop them from getting shot at too?"

Some civil rights groups worry that the mission statement and activities of the Minuteman Project attract individuals who are prone to vigilantism or racism.

"Part of the problem is not that they are necessarily doing something wrong," said Robert Deposada, president of the Latino Coalition, a Hispanic immigrant advocacy group. "It's that they're opening the doors for some extremists or wackos to join the group and to carry out wrong things in their name."

Deposada, however, agreed with the premise that the federal government should do more to prevent illegal border crossings "so that groups like these (Minutemen) are not necessary."

The Minuteman Project has won some support in Washington, D.C. U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) introduced a bill in the House last month to train civilian volunteers to help patrol the borders. They would resemble current Minuteman volunteer outfits, but would have the added benefit of federal training and certification.

Tony Essalih, deputy chief of staff for Culberson, said the congressman "sees the Minuteman Project volunteers as patriots" but added "the fact that the Minuteman Project exists is testament to the failure of the federal government to adequately protect our borders."

Essalih said Culberson also wants the government to pay more attention to the northern border. "He's very concerned because it has been long neglected, and it shouldn't be. Just the same as with the Mexican border, it's the primary threat."

The legislation introduced by Culberson now has close to 50 cosponsors, which Essalih said "shows that there is a critical mass of support for this in the House."

James Gilcrist and Chris Simcox founded the Minuteman Project on April 1 of this year. That day, they and 857 volunteers began a 30-day patrol of a 23-mile stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border near Tombstone. Membership now numbers slightly more than 1,000.