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It was one of the darkest nights we had while on the line watching for illegal activity. It was overcast so there was no moon, no starlight. Our night vision equipment allowed us to clearly see the group of 12 men and one woman coming towards us. They were young men, dressed in black BDU (battle dress utility) with bloused boots and moving very rapidly in single file formation. We communicated their position and direction to the border patrol so they could interdict and apprehend these illegals. But they were moving too fast and the border patrol is stretched too thin. Another paramilitary group of illegal aliens had slipped across our border.
Today the United States is faced with an invasion. Not an invasion from a nation state, but from peoples of many nations. This is but one example of this invasion.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)(1) estimates as many as three million illegal aliens cross our borders every year to join those already here. No one knows for sure exactly how many are here; estimates range from 8.7 million (2) to 20 million (3) with some sources putting the figure closer to 13 million. (1)
With a population of some 281 million, even the compromise number of 13 million means 4.7% of the population are undocumented aliens. One in 20 people living in the U.S. is an illegal alien.
Think of this as a 5th column, resident in this country dividing our Nation and causing a drain on our resources. In 2005, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates there are 10.3 million illegals in this country. I will use this figure because it correlates to the Center’s estimate that only 6.8 million (66%) of those illegals are actually employed. (4) The other 34%, or 3.7 million people, are here using government programs designed to help American citizens. For decades our national government has seemed unable or unwilling to stop this invasion. [The Pew Hispanic Center has recently raised their estimate to 12 million illegal aliens now living in this country. (5)]
But there is a group of American men and women who have decided to take a stand to stop and reverse this invasion. That group is the modern Minutemen.
The Minuteman Project started several years ago but was formalized in September, 2004 by Jim Gilchrist, a retired California CPA, and Chris Simcox, a Tucson, AZ, newspaper publisher. Since that time, each has taken the reins of the two important aspects of our program; Operation Spotlight which campaigns against employers that hire illegals, and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps which conducts patrol operations on the border in support of the Border Patrol.
Some say the Minutemen are a bunch of red-necked, camo wearing, gun totting, raciest who only want to hunt down and shoot the illegals. That is just not true. Minutemen are people just like you; your friends & neighbors, the people you work with, go to church with, sit beside in your organizational meetings, and cheer with at sporting events. They are doctors, lawyers, businessmen, accountants, computer programmers, teachers, ministers, salesmen, librarians, farmers & ranchers – they come from all walks of life. The difference is, just as they did 230 years ago, these minutemen saw a threat to our nation and their way of life, and decided to act.
Simply stated the Minuteman Organization was formed to observe illegal activity on the border and report it to the Border Patrol. By doing this, the Minutemen wanted to create national awareness to the flow of illegal immigrants, guns, drugs and contraband across our nation’s porous borders. To this end they deployed to the border during October and were very successful.
Why now? Illegal aliens have been coming across the border for decades. But now they are coming across in record numbers and the Border Patrol has been unable to stop it. You have to realize the Border Patrol is smaller than the Houston Police department. They are short-handed and estimate they apprehend only about 10% of those who cross the border.
Between 1990 & 2000, the U.S. population increased by 13.1%. This was 1.4 million more than expected. (The Census Bureau said this might be the result of doing a better job in counting illegal aliens.) During the decade of 1990s, there was a 57.4% increase in the foreign-born population and only a 9.2% increase in the native-born population (2)
These statistics are not shown as a bias against foreigners. Our efforts are aimed at those who violate U.S. immigration law and are in our country illegally. After all, our nation is a nation of immigrants and has the most liberal immigration policy of any nation in the world. But immigration in the past has never had such large numbers arriving with no intention of assimilating into our culture. They refuse to learn our language yet demand access to benefits and programs designed to assist American citizens. Far too many keep allegiance with their home country. They take good jobs as well as entry-level positions and funnel tens of billions of dollars out of the country and out of our economy. Taxes are never paid on many of these wages. There are also large numbers of criminals making their way across our borders. (6)
100 years ago, Theodore Roosevelt spoke directly to this situation; even then he understood that America, her people and her culture, were unique and assimilation was (and is) important.
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag,...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
In AZ & CA the use of Gov’t land allowed protesters & the ACLU to confront the Minuteman volunteers and submit them to harassment and insult. Not so here. In Texas, Minutemen operate on private land at the request of the landowner. But incidents here and in AZ & CA show the strength of the MM vetting process since there were no injuries, even with extreme provocation by opponents.
When we set up, we want to set up in high traffic areas. The southern Rio Grande is situated so illegals crossing some150 miles of border are funneled into just four roads going north. The border patrol has checkpoints about 70-80 miles inland on these highways and stops all traffic going north. The coyotes truck the illegals north till they are south of the checkpoints, let them out of the trucks so they can bypass the BP by hiking through the ranch lands. The coyotes lead bands of illegals sometimes numbering over a 100 as they cross ranch and farm land to pickup points further north. They tear down fences, destroy stock water tanks and pumps, trash the land, and have even invaded homes and killed residents.
Our deployment in October was in Brooks County where we operated out of a ranch just south of Falfurrias. Here are some statistics provided by the Border Patrol. Remember the Border Patrol believes they only apprehend about 10% of those actually crossing the border illegally.
Statistics From Brooks County Border Patrol:
(30 Day periods ending) 8/25 9/25 10/27
Arrests 1933 2100 1895
Deported 1843 1772
Mexican 1002 972
OTM 841 1047 800
Smugglers 53 98
Narcotics 41 29
Type/Value 1709#MJ 1338#MJ
$1.367M $1.07M
610#Coc 45.6#Coc
$1.952M $1.46M
Deaths 34 44
Autopsies +300% of budget
(Falfurrias Border Patrol Station)
This means approximately 20,000 illegals come through this one county each month. October figures are down because our deployment forced the coyotes to take many illegals elsewhere. One of the Falfurrias ranchers called me in February and stated that the flow of illegals across the border had doubled since our October deployment.
We hear a lot of concern about the deaths of aliens attempting to cross the border illegally. Sad as that is, not all of these deaths are from the environment. The bodies of many young women have been found raped, abused and murdered by the coyotes and the men in their group. One man was left tied to a tree. Robbery was not a motive since he had $300 in his pockets. The old, sick and children who cannot keep up with the group are left without food, water or directions.
When we found illegals in stress, we provide water and care and notify the Border Patrol.
Note the OTM statistics. The OTMs (Other than Mexicans) are an increasing percentage of those crossing. Many are coming from countries that are not friends of the United States, especially radical Muslim nations that have friendly ties with terrorists. The November 26th issue of U.S. News & World Report stated in an interview with Senator John Cornyn that in the last fiscal year, 83% of OTM arrests were in TX. (In 2005 – almost 28,000 (27,756) OTM illegals were apprehended in the Del Rio Sector [up 229%] and an additional 7400 (7319) in the Laredo Sector [up 48%]) Senator Cornyn stated he had met residents in the Rio Grande Valley who are “terrified to go outside their homes.”(7)
Some residents on the border haven’t had vacations in years. If both husband and wife leave their home at the same time, Mexicans watching from across the river will come across, trash their homes and steal what they want. The owners have come home and followed a trail of trash back to the river to see the Mexicans standing on the other side waving at them and laughing.
These are American citizens in their own country, in their own homes.
The World Net Daily reported on November 20th in Hudspeth County, TX, U.S. Border Patrol agents were backed down by armed men, dressed in what appeared to be Mexican military uniforms and carrying military weapons, who seized from the U.S. agents a captured dump truck filled with marijuana and dragged it across the border into Mexico with a bulldozer. (8) This is not an isolated incident. There have been over 200 documented cases of groups dressed and armed as Mexican military crossing the border escorting or aiding drug smugglers.
But some say if we deport the illegals, the cost of many goods & services (fruits, vegetables, construction) will go up. But evidence shows illegal costs far outweigh benefits to society.
FAIR reported that the Center for Immigrations Studies estimated in 1995 illegal immigration costs the Federal Government a net $29 billion. (2) Taxes paid to the government did not cover the costs incurred; remember, most costs are borne by the states, not the federal government.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports Illegal immigration costs Texas “$4.7 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration.”(9) Most of this is education due to the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Plyler v. Doe) which required the educating of all children resident in the U.S. The Urban Institute estimates 1.2 million illegals live in Texas. Texas’ foreign-born populations jumped 90% from 1990 to 2000 resulting in one in four children having immigrant parents. (10) Congressman John Carter reported that fully 50% of all births in Texas during 2005 were to illegal aliens. This is during an era when our State Legislature cannot find enough money to fund education within our state. Perhaps if we remove the requirement to educate illegals, we will have enough money to educate our own citizens.
The 14 counties along the Texas/Mexico border have more than 1800 colonias (unincorporated subdivisions often without basic water, sewer and electricity). These colonias are home to over 400,000 people, mostly illegals. The poverty rate there was 34%, double the statewide average. (10)
You will note that the border counties do not bear all the cost alone. Harris County spent $330 million in health care costs for illegals over a three-year period. (11) El Paso county spent $13 million in 2000 to jail 14,800 illegals. (12)
You would think that enforcing our immigration laws and stopping the flow of illegals would not be controversial, especially after 9/11. But there is opposition.
Opposition comes from organizations such as the ACLU, LULAC, LA RAZA, and the Brown Berets. Estudiantes Contemporaneos del Norte is a student organization founded at the University of New Mexico on September 11, 2000. Formed to “promote the legitimate national aspirations of the Chicano/Mexicano people of El Norte, the region acknowledged as the American Southwest and the Mexican North.” Called “The Plan to Takeover the American Southwest”, you can find it on their website: http://www.unm.edu/~ecdn/missiongoal.html (13)
Due to the national attention brought about by those efforts along the Mexican and Canadian borders, our congress has started meaningful immigration reform legislation and the President and the Director of Homeland Security promised more federal resources will be put on the border to stem the tide of illegals.
The President said in October that the “catch & release” program was over. (OTMs, when apprehended, are provided with a court date to appear before a judge to determine why they should not be deported. They are then released and told to report in 90 days.) Congressman John Carter stated in January that to date, over 500,000 have failed to report. They just disappeared into the American heartland. Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff said in the Nov. 28th U.S. News & World Report that he hoped to end that practice within a year. He promised more physical barriers on the border, more bed space to hold illegals, faster processing of apprehended illegals, and 27 new fugitive-operations teams to add to the 17 already in operation. These teams “are small groups which will root out illegal aliens” already living in America. (7)
However, these teams are primarily interested only in the 450,000 illegals who have criminal records, have missed their court dates, or work in places of national security interests such as airports and nuclear power plants. (7) But what about the rest of the 11 million illegals?
Congress has begun to move on legislation (HR4437) that can make a big difference in curtailing this invasion. The House has passed it and sent it to the Senate where it faces opposition. A few of these highlights are:
Legislation passed by the House awaiting approval by the Senate provide for:
- Restores integrity to the border with 700 miles of fence.
- Requires all employers to verify immigration status with the Federal Government.
- Increase civil & criminal penalties for knowingly hiring illegals.
- Makes it a criminal offense (instead of civil) to be in this country illegally.
- Toughen penalties for immigrant smugglers.
- Establishes mandatory minimum penalties for illegals that re-enter the U.S. after being removed.
- Reimburses sheriffs in border counties for apprehending and detaining illegals.
- Required deportation of illegals with multiple DUI convictions.
- Crack down on gangs.
- Abolish catch & relish policy.
FWST, 12/12/05, 12/17/05, by Dave Montgomery (14)
Yes, efforts to curtail this invasion of illegal aliens
have been successful to date. However we
must continue to demand our government
function as required by the Constitution and
protect our borders.
Work with Team American and Numbers USA at www.teamamericapac.org and www.numbersusa.com respectively to find out how to assist in this effort.
Contact your friends and associates to tell them the truth about the Minutemen and the need for immigration reform. You can make phone calls, write letters, and send e-mails to your elected representatives. An aroused citizenry can motivate congressmen, senators and even the President to take needed action.
SOURCES
- Federation for American Immigration Reform – www.fairus.org, “Overview of Annual Immigration”
- Federation for American Immigration Reform – www.fairus.org, “Immigration’s Impact on the U.S.”.
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram (FWST), 12/3/2005, “An Economic Force” by Angie Wagner.
- Pew Hispanic Center, reported FWST, 12/3/05, “An Economic Force” by Angie Wagner.
- Pew Hispanic Center, reported FWST, 3/8/06, Immigration, AP.
- Border Patrol, FWST, 21/11/05, “More Criminals Crossing Border”, by Dave Montgomery
- U.S.News & World Report, 11/28/2005, “Border Wars”.
- World Net Daily, 11/20/2005, “Armed Standoff on Rico Grande”.
- Freemarket, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1381730/posts
- Federation for American Immigration Reform – www.fairus.org, “Immigration Impact: Texas”.
- Jeffrey Passel, “New Estimates of the Undocumented Population of the United States,” Migration Information Source, May 22, 2002.
- Steve Brewer, “DA Drops Investigation of Immigrant Health Care,” The Houston Chronicle, December 11, 2001.
- http://www.unm.edu/~ecdn/missiongoal.html
- FWST, 12/12/05, 12/17/05, by Dave Montgomery
Congressman John Carter, Texas District 31 at Townhall Meeting 1/19/06.
- 500,000 illegals have failed to comply with court-order appearance after release.
- 25,000 absentee votes cast in Chicago alone in last MEXICAN election.
- Border Patrol is smaller than the Houston Police Department.
- 50% of all births in Texas during 2005 were to illegals aliens.
For more information about the TEXAS MINUTEMAN contact:
Dr. Mike Vickers
Texas Chapter Director
Phone: 361-227-4539 or 361 455-9626
Email: fal_air_sofort@hotmail.com
Submitted by Carroll Cawyer. Mr. Cawyer is a retired Marine Officer and a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He is not, however, an official spokesman of the Minuteman Organization and all opinions are his own and not those of the organization.
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