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| 15,000 volunteer to help guard U.S. border | ||
| 2005-05-12 | ||
| WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- The organizer of last month's Minutemen border protest says more than 15,000 people have volunteered for future citizen patrols along the Mexican border. "We considerer this a mandate from the citizens of the United States," Chris Simcox will tell a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee Thursday, according to a copy of his prepared testimony obtained by United Press International. The Minutemen recently held a month long protest in Arizona, with volunteers patrolling the border and reporting suspected illegal crossers to authorities. They say they deployed 857 volunteers along the border, facilitating the apprehension by the Border Patrol of 335 people illegally crossing into the country. Simcox's prepared testimony indicates the Minutemen have begun "the task of recruiting, training and deploying" the thousands of volunteers it will need to patrol all four states that border Mexico. "We now consider the movement to be a revival of the Civil Defense movement of the World War II era," Simcox plans to say. "While our troops are fighting on foreign soil ...we the people will take up the slack" by patrolling the border.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #9 keep the (spot)light on - the roaches have to hide |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-12 15:49 |
| #8 Chris Simcox has been invited to testify before the House: this is progress. Someone in Washington gets it. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-05-12 15:30 |
| #7 The Minutemen did it right, in spades, in AZ. If they pass on the procedures and people keep their heads, this will be the "shame them into acting" effort that will force the entire political structure to address the issue. And the light shone on it will be bright, too, given all of the competing factions and sentiment that the immigration and security issues generate. I would note here that the two, immigration and security, are not of equal weight - security trumps. No moronic mass legalization legislation would stand a snowballs' chance in Hell. They'll actually have to figure this sombitch out and choose rational actions, skating down the center of the road between the minefields of the interests. Beaucoup compromises will have to be made by the pro-immigration folks because Red America outnumbers them and is interested more in security - and probably fed up with scofflaws getting their way. Some here have suggested this is a Republican Achilles heel... I think that this may boomerang on the Dhimmis if they don't realize that security trumps and continue their stonewalling BS or try to make a total circus out of this bomb. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-05-12 13:56 |
| #6 Rush said earlier today both houses have a plan to legalize 10(?) million???? |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2005-05-12 13:41 |
| #5 "While our troops are fighting on foreign soil ...we the people will take up the slack" by patrolling the border. Thing is, there's no real "slack" to take up, since it is unlikely that American soldiers would have been deployed at the Mexico border for patrol purposes anyway, war or not. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-05-12 12:33 |
| #4 Actually, the tradition goes back a lot further than WWII. Back in the Civil War many military units were raised as private companies, and elected their officers by vote. When such units were organized, then they would be inducted into the Union Army or Confederacy as a group. This lasted until the time of Teddy Roosevelt, when it was decided that these "militias" needed more skilled officers, and should evolve into Reserve units. However, what the Minutemen are proposing is not necessarily the raising of militias for military purposes, but more properly "posses", to augument law enforcement. This is more than a semantic difference, as both militias and posses have distinct rules. Technically, if the Minutemen are to continue this effort, it might be to their advantage to become "deputized" by a sympathetic Sheriff in whose county they operate, as this affords them some legal protections. Some interesting historical precedents and case law to consider here. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-12 10:10 |
| #3 Judge should toss it out. We're just trying to set the Guiness Record for "World's Largest Game of Red Rover". |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-05-12 10:06 |
| #2 Too many people in one place. Too much carbon dioxide produced. Probably violates Kyoto. I see this going to the ICC. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-05-12 09:48 |
| #1 I await the ACLU's first lawsuit. Probably something about an illegal assembly. |
| Posted by: Highlander 2005-05-12 09:34 |