"Send a message!" - The Minuteman Project

Minuteman Project in Midland/Odessa

Chris Simcox:  "Unsecured borders are the most serious problem facing the nation."  And about illegal immigrants coming in from Syria, Iran and Iraq he added, "I don't think they are coming here for landscaping jobs."

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corp has been up and running for couple of years, and to hear former teacher and Minuteman founder Chris Simcox talk about it, they have accomplished quite a bit.  In what was described as a training session, Mr. Simcox gave an hour long lecture last night about unsecured borders, the accomplishments of the Minuteman project, and the goal of his organization.

The ultimate goal, simply put, is to get the U.S. Government to enforce the existing immigration laws.  And the method to achieve this objective is to focus so much public attention on the problem that lawmakers will be pressured to fund the appropriate agencies so that they can do an adequate job.

Training Session

Tuesday night Mr. Simcox addressed a couple of dozen people who had registered to be a part of the Odessa/Midland branch of the organization.  The meeting took place at Jake's Clays, a private ranch, and only registered members, invited guests and media representatives were allowed on the premises.

Volunteers  who actually participate in the patrols, scheduled for the month of October, will have to pay for and undergo a criminal background check unless he/she possesses a Texas Concealed Handgun License, the securing of which would have already required a criminal background check.

Patrols would consist of small squads stationed 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart with binoculars, cell phones and 2-way radios.  Their job would be simply to sit and watch for trespassers, and they would also be expected to help the land owner clean up the property.

Where?

Mr. Simcox said that many land owners are opening their land to the Minuteman volunteers.  But, the land that the Odessa/Midland group would be patrolling was described as 30 miles North of the border in the Rio Grande Valley.  Mr. Simcox said it was South of Falfurrias, but a quick check of the map suggests that it would be closer to McAllen than Falfurrias.  In any event, it looks like a nearly 600 mile journey from here.

If I might be permitted to make an observation here, one has to wonder just how much illegal immigrant pedestrian traffic might take place on a ranch 30 miles from the border.  Maybe it's an "underground railroad" type of thing, but without knowing the details on the ground, it's very easy to conclude that perhaps many of the border land owners, for whatever reason, might not be so eager to open their lands to citizen patrols.

Minuteman results so far

Mr. Simcox reported that so far his group has reported over 6,000 illegal immigrants from 26 countries.  He said they've apprehended 60,000 pounds of illegal items and performed 162 life saving rescues.

Sending a message

The goal of Mr. Simcox and the Minuteman Project is to bring attention to illegal immigration, and they are certainly doing that.  All the local media had representatives at the meeting, and all three local tv news shows had items about it on their Tuesday 10 P.M. news programs.  And both local newspapers reported about it, see links below.

Furthermore, a national cable tv show, "Hannity & Colmes," was broadcast live from there last night.  U.S. Representatives J.D. Hayworth and Mike Conaway were present.

With the help of Connie Hair, a paid media representative, the Minuteman project has gotten so much attention that one would have to have his/her head buried in the sand not to have heard about it.

The objective is to send a message, and if the patrols turn out to be merely private "sit-ins," then however inconvenient it might be for the participants, it will have sent a message.

But, with all of this attention focused on the leaders, the people on the ground out in the field doing the patrolling seem almost superfluous.  While they are all spending their own time and money and taking all of the risks, the glory and credit goes to Mr. Simcox.  One has to wonder what's next for Mr. Simcox.  Don't be too surprised if his name shows up on an Arizona ballot in 2006.

Link roundup

Here's the Odessa American article.

And this Midland Reporter-Telegram article addresses  the meeting.

An earlier report appeared in the Del Rio News-Herald.

The Ft. Worth Star Telegram had a recent article about the Minuteman.

The Houston Chronicle reported a confrontation with LULAC in Houston the other day.

The Washington Times editorializes that New Mexico governor, Bill Richardson, has made a shrewd political move by declaring a state of emergency in four counties abutting Mexico.

Stephanie Corley of the Big Bend Sentinel wrote about the Minuteman meeting that took place in Odessa on June 2.

Here's the Sleepless in Midland report about the June 2, 2004, Minuteman meeting in Odessa.

Finally, here's the link to the official Minuteman Civil Defense Corp website.  Note:  that organization is not to be confused with the Texas Minutemen which is a separate unaffiliated organization.  A common error revealed by Google News searches is the mistaken interchange of the suffix "men" with "man."

Comments

[Wallace-Midland, Texas]

The Fox News story got wide coverage. I got an email from Blog pal, Slatts, in Geelong Australia saying he'd seen it.

http://www.slattsnews.observationdeck.org/

[Geo]

Wallace,

What amazed me was how much different Sean Hannity looked in person than on tv. If I seen him somewhere else I wouldn't have recognized him.

[criminal background checks]

really apricaite what you are doing here.