Minutemen kick off return engagement in Arizona, other states

Saturday, April 1, 2006 | 10:35 a.m.

THREE POINTS, Ariz. - Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue.

A year after their first watch-and-report operation along the border in southeastern Arizona, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps embarked on a much larger effort in the busy migrant-smuggling corridor.

"I'm concerned about what's not being done by the government - hasn't been done, apparently," said J. Glenn Sorensen, a retired school administrator now living in Flagstaff.

Sorensen, who was not involved with the Minutemen last year, said he thinks the organization has accomplished part of its intended purpose already, "to draw national attention to an insecure border. I don't think anybody wants to close the border - I certainly don't - basically I think they need to be secure."

No one in the group had any illusions about their campaign's effectiveness, since it targets a relatively short section of the border for just a month. However, it comes at a time when Congress is debating proposals seeking to reform immigration laws, which have drawn supporters of legitimizing illegal immigrants to demonstrations in a series of cities across the country.

"This is like sticking a finger in the dike," said Ken Raymond, a retired electrical engineer and airplane mechanic from Tucson.

At a rally kicking off the effort at a remote southern Arizona ranch Saturday afternoon, politicians and anti-illegal immigration activists gave fiery speeches calling for more border control.

At least 200 mostly older men and women heard more than a half dozen speakers praise their efforts and call the Minutemen heroes.

Republican Don Goldwater, a candidate for Arizona governor, said he had a message for President Bush.

"Build us that wall now," Goldwater said, referring to a measure that would add 700 miles of fences along the border with Mexico. He promised that if elected, he will put illegal immigrants in a tent city on the border and use their labor to build the wall. Goldwater is a party activist and nephew of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Each month, thousands cross into Arizona. So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, agents have caught more than 48,000 illegal immigrants in the area staked out this weekend, up 53 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Minuteman leader Chris Simcox said four watering stations placed by the group Humane Borders to keep migrants from dying in the desert will be among the locations under surveillance. Last year, more than 400 people died trying to cross the Arizona desert, many from dehydration or heat exposure, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

"We watch them all the time," Simcox said of the water stations. "It's a great place to report illegal activities."

The group says it plans similar exercises along the border in California, New Mexico and Texas, and along the Canadian border in Washington, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York state.

President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox support a so-called guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants already holding jobs in the U.S. to stay.

Simcox says the group's message is clear: "We want border security first."

The Minuteman members Saturday arriving south of Tucson plan to patrol private ranch property about 30 miles north of the border.

Along with their binoculars, cell phones and radios, a number wore sidearms, including state Rep. Russell Pearce, a Republican from Mesa who has been a leading voice in the Arizona legislature calling for a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Those planning to patrol were under strict orders to call the Border Patrol and to avoid confronting intruders or drawing their weapons, said Simcox and Stacey O'Connell, in charge of the Arizona chapter.

Although last year's patrols were nonviolent and disciplined, there are still concerns about having armed groups in a busy trafficking area, Gus Soto, a Border Patrol spokesman, said last week.

Minuteman leaders have said that all the group's members have been screened to weed out members of racist organizations.

Still, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union-Arizona say they're concerned over "the potential for taking actions and ... attempting to enforce immigration laws," executive director Alessandra Soler Meetze said.