Front Page  news  state

Friday, July 22, 2005

Groups Rallying Against Minuteman Border Patrols


Associated Press
      LAS CRUCES — About a dozen groups plan a rally Saturday in Las Cruces against civilian organizations that patrol the U.S. border with Mexico.
    Rally organizers from the League of United Latin American Citizens say they expect people not only from New Mexico but also Texas, Arizona and California who oppose the Minuteman Project and similar groups.
    LULAC plans to use the meeting to discuss other solutions to illegal immigration, including a guest worker program, since the lure of jobs brings most people to the United States.
    The Minuteman project said it trains volunteers to spot suspected illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. and contact authorities, but critics contend such efforts promote racism and xenophobia.
    "The way they're going about is creating a hostile environment in New Mexico,'' said LULAC President Pablo Martinez of Las Cruces.
    Kate Coffman of Las Cruces said she views the border watchers as "vigilantes and extremists.''
    County Commissioner Oscar Butler, in a recent letter to the Las Cruces Sun-News, wrote: "I find their message racist at its core ... (and) reeks of a bygone era of institutionalized American discrimination.''
    Earlier this month, Chris Simcox, president of one civilian group, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, told about 100 people in Las Cruces that without their help the border would continue to be a lawless zone where drug traffickers, human smugglers and terrorists could come and go as they pleased.
    The border watch groups' nearly exclusive focus on the Mexican border made Phillip Archuleta of LULAC suspicious of their motives.
    "If they're really sincere about patrolling the border ... why are they just focusing on the Mexican border?'' he asked.
    LULAC members say civilian border guards are not the answer to illegal immigration. And they question why the groups are focusing on the nation's southern border.
    "The problem is that they are, first of all, just private citizens and we feel that they don't have the right to be patrolling the border with guns,'' Martinez said.
    Clifford Alford of Organ, leader of another civilian group, New Mexico Border Watch, said neither he nor others he worked with ever carried guns.
    Alford denied allegations of racism and said he was offended by them. He said anyone in his group found to hate Hispanics will be expelled.
    Martinez said, however, the groups' message is "attracting those people that are very racist to join their organization.''