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| Home Front: WoT |
| Al-Qaeda risk seen at Mexican border |
| 2005-04-09 |
| Militia volunteer Jack Montrose trains his binoculars south of the cactus-studded Arizona border and spies a group of people hunkered down behind a railway embankment on the Mexican side. "I can see eight to 10 of them out there, and if it wasn't for us here they'd come right on through," said Montrose, who wore a magnum pistol strapped to his hip in a leather holster. "This border is just wide open." The 67-year-old from Fallon, Nevada, is among 300 to 400 volunteers of the "Minuteman" civilian militia mounting a round-the-clock search for illegal immigrants along a 23-mile section of the border through April 30. Volunteers from as far afield as California and Maryland say the project, which takes its name from a militia during the American Revolution, is a peaceful protest at the government's failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Many cite a recent CIA warning that al Qaeda militants could be preparing to cross from Mexico to carry out attacks in the United States, and say they see the fence as a threat to the security of "heartland America." "Some day in this country we are going to see them walk into Wal-Mart and blow themselves up, or a small school somewhere, like they do over in Israel," said local resident Freddie Puckett as he gestured at the seven-strand border fence. Robin Hvidston, a 50-year-old real estate agent from Upland, California, who has been out in the desert all week, says the volunteers are "just run-of-the-mill American citizens" concerned about security and the cost of illegal immigration. "It's a combination of hot issues that is getting a lot of Americans up out of their armchairs and out on to the streets," she said, wearing a button declaring her to be an "Undocumented Border Patrol Agent." The volunteers' self-appointed role as defenders worries some. Mexico's government calls them vigilantes and the U.S. Border Patrol says they are untrained and unwelcome because they get in the way. Local residents are divided but many see them as a menace. "The majority of the people in the community are offended and insulted because of their mentality toward Hispanics," said Ray Borane, the mayor of Douglas, which he said is 92 percent Hispanic. "I've seen them out there ... and they are no more than revelers." The militiamen chose to make their stand in Arizona because the desert state accounted for half of the 1.2 million immigrants nabbed crossing the 2,000-mile frontier last year. Contractor Larry Morgan said that while he loves Mexicans "as people," the "invasion" of immigrants is placing a major strain on state services back in his native California. "We are in economic trouble, our schools and hospital emergency departments are shutting down and our jails are filled with illegal aliens, and it's bankrupting the state of California frankly," he said. The volunteers say they have spotted 300 immigrants and tipped off Border Patrol agents to help catch them since the project began last weekend, and they are planning a "Minuteman Two" later in the year. "We feel that we have been effective, and most of us are ready to do another one," Hvidston said. "I think this is the beginning of many similar projects." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Local residents are divided but many see them as a menace. "The majority of the people in the community are offended and insulted because of their mentality toward Hispanics," said Ray Borane, the mayor of Douglas, which he said is 92 percent Hispanic. "I’ve seen them out there ... and they are no more than revelers." *sniff sniff* Smells like bullshit to me. Any hard numbers on these allegations? Any names? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-09 6:32:46 PM |
| #1 Somehow I knew it was Rooters, even before I scanned the link. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-04-09 1:15:15 AM |