An unnamed volunteer from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has been dismissed after giving a ride, food and water to a couple of illegal border crossers hitch-hiking on N.M. 81 near Hachita, the El Paso Times reported on its Web site today.

The incident, which occurred about two weeks ago, was investigated by the Border Patrol to determine whether the man either detained or helped the immigrants, either of which would be illegal, the Times reported. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque declined to prosecute, according to the paper.

"They were not detained. They were assisted by some fool," Minuteman operations manager Gary Cole told the paper about the illegals.

The man, who is in his 50s, was dismissed from the group and sent home.

"We're scratching our heads. He came down here to be part of the Minutemen and he gives illegal aliens a ride?" Cole said of the banished volunteer.

"He was a very dedicated person and appeared to fully understand what were doing," Cole told the Times.

But Claudia Guevara, a volunteer coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union which has been monitoring Minuteman activities along the New Mexico border, suggested to the Times that the man may have had more sinister motives.

"It's kind of scary," she told the paper. "We just don't know what he was planning."

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