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Minutemen Kaput?

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 01:00:45 PM EST
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Journalist and author David Neiwert of Orcinus writes:

Well, the Minutemen apparently are running low on volunteers -- their Web site currently features an urgent plea for volunteers "on the border to the end of April." According to my sources, the project's numbers have been in precipitous decline in the past week, while the Project is officially supposed to last until April 30.

That hasn't prevented them from declaring victory anyway, even before they've officially wrapped up their three-ring anti-immigration circus.

Sounds like their publicity stunt has run out of gas. Good. They got their 15 minutes, time for them to go back to their cushy investment banker jobs. It's more than time for this self-syled citizen militia to disband, despite their protestations that they will expand.

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    Minutemen Kaput? | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 01:26:40 PM EST
    I see that the "illegal" part of illegal alien still utterly baffles TL. maybe I should paste a link to Merriam Webster or something...

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 01:28:55 PM EST
    Oh no it isn't, funny that both the Left and right hate the ideals of Americans doing something about our borders? many people on both sides make a-lot of money with the mexican slave markets, now only if we can get the mexican people to do something about the government OF Mexico, like take up arms against that corrupt evil in mexico city. but if that happened maybe our government would send troops down to mexico to keep the drug dealers in power, in doing that maybe we could start to understand why bush loves fox so much.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 01:40:35 PM EST
    Why make Mexico's corruption the fault of Bush? Can't anyone make a coherent argument concerning corruption in that country that does not center on the United States? The vast majority of the citizens of the United States want something done about illegal immigration. Mexico wants nothing done because it uses illegal immigration as a pressure release to avoid dealing with its corruption. The lowest wage Americans pay the price.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:00:03 PM EST
    The way to stop illegal immigration is not to recreate the Berlin wall along the US-Mexico border; it is to have serious enforcement of laws against hiring illegals. Many illegal immigrants have fake green cards and drivers licenses. It would not be hard to force employers to verify those documents with the immigration service. Of course the business community is opposed to that, so it won’t happen. Putting large number of people on one section of the border, either border agents or “volunteers”, just moves the problem around. Unless you do it along the whole border, it won’t really do much good. When we catch people trying to cross, we just send them back to Mexico to try again, and they keep trying till they find someplace that they can cross. The only way to really stop illegal immigration at the border is to rebuild the Berlin wall along the whole border.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#5)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:10:26 PM EST
    James, Does this mean I get to camp outside Ken Lay's house with a gun?

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:17:47 PM EST
    James Robertson wrote:
    I see that the "illegal" part of illegal alien still utterly baffles TL. maybe I should paste a link to Merriam Webster or something...
    I assume that Mr. Robertson is a US citizen and that he received that citizenship by being born in the US. I am curious as to why he thinks that the location where his mother gave birth makes him morally more worthy of this prize than any other non-citizen. It's not that I don't understand your concept of "illegal" it's that I understand it precisely and that I believe it to be wrong. Lots of right-wingers think that abortion is always wrong, regardless of the law. I disagree with them totally because I don't think that they should be making decisions about other peoples' (i.e. womens') bodies. In the same way, I think that drawing a border and saying that someone cannot come in because they weren't born there is always wrong and I don't care about the legal precedent. The law is cruel, capricious and evil. The law is an ass and I look forward to telling that to the next US Customs agent I see. Cheers, Alan Tomlinson

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:21:52 PM EST
    Alan Tomlinson - I see the law confuses you as well. If you favor fully open borders, feel free to advocate for that. What we do now - have laws on the books that various parties on the left and right ignore - is the worst of all possible worlds.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#8)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:23:47 PM EST
    I'm more concerned with his notion that merely because someone is an "illegal" you can do whatever you want to them. At least that's about the only conclusion you can draw from his out-of-left-field attack on TL. I feel like this reasoning has been used to justify some rather questionable acts in the past.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:28:42 PM EST
    We don't have 'fully open borders,' and haven't FOREVER. Why aren't you worried about tens of thousands of uninspected semitrucks flowing LEGALLY past the borders and to your hometown in Hick, Montana? Far easier to express racism when it comes to PEOPLE, than to see --FINALLY-- that it is Walmart and 'Hardly Working' Bush that is making you and your faminly UNSAFE. Vigilantism is dead. Long live the corporations. Eighty-two of the largest corporations in the country have paid ZERO taxes since Bush took (and I mean took) office. You lot ought to be boycotting Walmart instead of attacking the handful of illegals who are driven to cross the desert in the hope of having food for their children. You ought to be bombarding Bush with demands that he inspect 100% of those semit-trucks, which will cost well over a billion dollars, building special inspection stations, hiring inspectors, interviewing companies and drivers, and hiring up twice as many highway patrol officers. Instead, you revert to the redneck. And party with your Walmart kegger and the 50 lb. bag of stale potato chips. What heroes!

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 02:32:38 PM EST
    Again, a rant on Bush on a topic that should concern everyone-border enforcement and border security. Should corporations that employ illegals be prosecuted andpenalized? Yes. Does that mean we should do nothing at the borders? No. Does the job (cushy investment banker) of someone matter in terms of their opinion on border security? No.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#11)
    by roger on Fri Apr 22, 2005 at 04:30:55 PM EST
    I love how people who are indiginous to the area can be declared "illegal" and we get lectured by James. They were here long before us James.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 03:56:22 AM EST
    "Posted by Ed: "Again, a rant on Bush on a topic that should concern everyone-border enforcement and border security." Another non-responsive rant for Bush that ignores the MUCH LARGER problem of uninspected SEMI-TRUCKS, which can carry tens of thousands of illegal immigrants into the country, and deliver them ANYWHERE. But you go on and worry about 'the borders' (the people trying to cross the deserts and not die). Meanwhile the thing you are trying on the racist frightwig about is going to be rolling past you 18-wheels at a time.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#13)
    by cp on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 06:04:22 AM EST
    roger, i hate to break it to you, but there are no indiginous peoples in the americas, they all immigrated from elsewhere. further, the majority of people illegally crossing our southern borders are of spanish and mixed indian/spanish descent. so, while they "were here before us", it wasn't all that long before us. to the issue: good, these bozos are finally leaving the job to the pros. not that they were doing all that much anyway, but at least now they're out of the way. as near as i can tell, this appeared to be mostly an excuse for the majority of these guys to get away from their wives for a couple of weeks, and play cowboy with their buds. they got their 15 minutes and a sunburn. sadly, beer sales will significantly drop in the area, perhaps to be made up for by t-shirt sales, proclaiming "my (insert relative here) went on border patrol, and all i got was this stupid shirt!", with a picture of a beach chair and can of beer.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 11:28:09 AM EST
    Big anti-minutemen protest on May 1! I hope Talkleft will cover it. page Riverside activists on Wednesday announced plans to discourage border crossings on May 1 between Douglas, Ariz., and Agua Prieta, Mexico, to protest the Minuteman Project and illustrate how the economies of U.S. border towns depend on the Mexican people. The Riverside group intends to rally in Agua Prieta on May 1 and station volunteers in Mexico who, for six to eight hours, will ask drivers not to cross the border, said Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside, at a press conference in San Bernardino's La Plaza Park. The Minutemen "represent a growing wave of bigotry and racism aimed at our community," Navarro said. "As they grow, we will grow." National Alliance for Human Rights is counting on the participation of hundreds of protesters. "It's a disgrace that there is so much hatred in some people's hearts that they try to prevent [migrants] from crossing the border," said Roberto Tijerina of Brown Berets de Aztlan in Riverside.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#15)
    by Bill on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 01:01:47 PM EST
    "It's a disgrace that there is so much hatred in some people's hearts that they try to prevent [migrants] from crossing the border," said Roberto Tijerina of Brown Berets de Aztlan in Riverside." They are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, by crossing the border they are commiting a crime against the United States, thus they are not legally migrating to the U.S., thus stopping them has nothing to do with hatred and racism, but all to do enforcing the laws of the U.S.

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 03:01:00 PM EST
    From what I hear, the Minuteman Project has turned over the boder watch to the Civil Homeland Defense Corps and the border watch will now continue past the end of April. The Minuteman Project is going into phase II, which is to begin protesting the employers of illegal immigrants or as Fred called them the "mexican slave markets."

    Re: Minutemen Kaput? (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 23, 2005 at 03:44:50 PM EST
    "They are ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, by crossing the border they are commiting a crime against the United States," Whoopteedoo, a crime. How about the crime of sending 1,565 US soldiers to their deaths over airbases and oil? That's a bit more significant. How about the crime of honoring Osama Bin Laden's 'privacy rights' from the FBI? The racism is OBVIOUS. You don't go after the big crimes, the big ripoffs, the Halliburton stolen money, or the Custer Battles loans of millions in duffel bags. You go after the poor. What heroes! " thus they are not legally migrating to the U.S., thus stopping them has nothing to do with hatred and racism, but all to do enforcing the laws of the U.S." Enforcing the laws? We can't even get a VOTE RECOUNT, much less enforcement of felony charges against companies that stole elections for Bush. You are picking at the gnat, while ignoring the ten-foot high worm which is raping your wife. And the only reason you would do that is racism. Anti-gnatism, even righteous anti-gnatism. Jesus said to fight the gnat at all costs, and ignore the worm screwing your wife. It's in the Bible!

    Minutemen Kaput? | 17 comments (17 topical)