The MinuteMAN Sneaked into South TX (Were Run Out of Vermont)

When last we heard of the intrepid MinuteMAN (not "MinuteMEN"), they had been run out of their pretense of patrolling the NORTH border and were lost in the wilds of Vermont:

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005/10/16/volunteers_get_cold_reception_in_vermont/
Volunteers get cold reception in Vermont
They run into protest and walk through wild to watch Canada border
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | October 16, 2005

NEWPORT, Vt. -- It's hard to save the United States from illegal immigrants when you can't find the border.

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They had balleyhooed in August that they would invade the Texas-Mexico border in October, but they were (publically, at least) cowed into stopping 60 miles north, at a private ranch in Falfurrias, TX.

The United Farmworkers, the Democratic Party, and others had planned to demonstrate against them if they showed up in the Rio Grande Valley, which is roughly the lower cornucopia-shaped, 90+ Blue part of Texas. The MinuteMAN had appeared to back down.

But just yesterday a Valley t.v. crew discovered them (three, tall, fat, White males, with Shrub-CHEENEE bumperstickers on their vehicles) sitting in canvas chairs, scanning the Pharr International Bridge (1 mile north of the border).

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http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=9851&Section=Valley

.... Earlier this month in Falfurrias, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps kicked off the Secure Our Borders Campaign, which continues through the end of the month.

While patrols in Falfurrias drew heavy media coverage, the group quietly began reconnaissance missions in the Valley in August and beefed up patrols Labor Day weekend.

"The only people that knew were the landowners and us," said Mike Vickers, one of the local organizers of the activist Minuteman Project based in Falfurrias. ....

Although heavily criticized by local civil rights organizations, the Minuteman project ventured on and now boasts various patrols across a dozen states.

...In April, the Minutemen patrolled the Arizona-New Mexico borders; however, they encountered a few problems in doing so. In Texas, Vickers said, they feel the benefit of. setting up stations on private property.

"We're not going in and disturbing the area," said Vickers, a Falfurrias-area veterinarian. "If any protesters step foot on private property, they are going straight to jail for trespassing." ....

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And the plot thickens, because enter the Brown Berets. When the MinuteMAN first announced they would be going to South Texas and the cities' and counties' governments there told them they were not welcome, the Brown Berets said they would resist their presence with FORCE.

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http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=66315_0_10_0_C

Brown Berets threaten Minutemen
Group urges group to think twice before patrolling

By Cari Hammerstrom
The Monitor

PHARR, July 28, 2005 — Once a powerful and militant organization in the Chicano Liberation Movement, the Brown Berets made it known Wednesday that they will oppose the Minutemen border watch group with physical force if necessary.

“We want to send the message, ‘Think twice before you come here,’” Pablo Delgado, a Brown Beret leader, said at a press confer-ence at the Hidalgo County Democratic Party headquarters. ....

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The people down there are definitely not happy. We're talking about an 80% Hispanic poluation who sees right through these rednecks. Even a major Mexican official, I believe the governor of Tamulipas, but maybe he was just a mayor, gave a speech in the Valley denouncing the Minutemen. If these guys aren't careful, not only will they piss off the people of the Valley, who may have relatives across the border, but they might very well cause an international incident.

Sounds like the trespassing threat means walking in the ditch again. And I wouldn't put it past the a-holes plunging a car--make that, SUV/truck--- at them.

ran across this thread...

Report from the Arizona Border with the Minutemen (Long Read)

We just got back last night after 5 days on the Arizona-Mexico border with the Minuteman Project. What follows is a recap of the experience and my observations. Please understand I am being purposefully vague on some details as there is still Minutemen on the line.


Tuesday 10/18 Day 1 � Arrived at base camp in Palominos around 1pm and met with Will Marriott for orientation and vetting. Process includes a background check, explanation of the Minuteman SOPs, and vetting of your beliefs and reasons for volunteering. We finished this process just in time for the 2:30pm briefing for that night. For the evening we had a small group of volunteers and it was decided we would work the highway which is about 3 miles in from the border. We rolled out to our assigned positions (Americanwolf was placed with one experienced Minuteman and I was placed with another one) around 3pm and were in place watching around 4:30pm. This gave us about an hour and a half of sun light to study our area for tracks, recon the terrain we would be watching and find the location we were going to station ourselves in. The October muster differed from the April one in that for October we were working in stealth mode, trying to catch the illegals in the process of crossing, while in April it was more of a show of force. After finding where we were going to watch from my partner Bernie and I hunkered down and started watching and waiting. As the sun went down we donned our warm clothes (Highs for the days were in the 80�s and lows at night in the 40�s). We stood watch until 11pm and the broke for the night tired and cold. The night was quite where we were but we did learn the Border Patrol did apprehend approximately 70 illegals just outside the camping area of base camp around 12:30am.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1508583/posts

1) is doing its job.

2) was 100 yards away from him all night, unbeknownst to him.

3) and he and his partner didn't do much.

Alrighty, then. P.S. Wish I could post this in their Freep thread.

Why don't the a-holes just drop the pretense of being "equal" on both borders and just stick to their clear racism on the Southern border.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
On Patrol in Vt., Minutemen Are the Outsiders
Along the Border, Group Targets Illegal Immigrants
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005; Page A02


....the Minutemen have come to Vermont.

They began scouting out potential sites several weeks ago, poking around this hamlet with a downtown almost directly on the border. It was in Derby Line that they had their first problem with the elusive border. On one scouting expedition, member Bob Casimiro said they became, for a moment, illegal visitors in Canada.

Then came their first official patrol two weekends ago, which was dogged by protesters who assembled downtown and shouted slogans such as "Take your hate out of our state." The Minutemen had to patrol a bike path away from town, and then -- as the Boston Globe reported -- got lost and had to ask a local for directions.

Over the weekend, the Minutemen decided to find a spot and stay put. They set up lawn chairs and looked out across a field at the trees. On Saturday afternoon, after several hours of watching, they had seen nobody and nothing suspicious....

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:wtf:

That said, they claim to screen their volunteers at the onset, asking them their philosophical context, whether they are Skinheads/Nazis whatever. They DON'T say that they screen these OUT.