The Washington Times
The number of volunteers preparing to form a monthlong blockade on part of the Arizona-Mexico border in protest of the Bush administration's failure to increase Border Patrol manpower has doubled to more than 400, a protest organizer said yesterday.
Noting that President Bush this week proposed in his 2006 budget the hiring of only 210 new Border Patrol agents, protest organizer Chris Simcox said the decision "clarified our message" that Mr. Bush has "once again ignored the will of the people." The intelligence overhaul bill, signed into law by Mr. Bush, had authorized 2,000 new agents for each of the next five years.
"In trying to get this border secured, we have sent hundreds of e-mails and letters attempting to get Mr. Bush's attention in every possible way," said Mr. Simcox, publisher, owner and editor of the Tombstone Tumbleweed and a protest organizer. "But he has left us no choice but to do the job he refuses to do."
Protest organizers have gathered an army of volunteers ready to spend 30 days on the Arizona-Mexico border beginning April 1 as part of the "Minuteman Project" — to highlight what they call America's failure to control illegal immigration. The list of volunteers has nearly doubled in the past two weeks, with 444 men and women from 41 states set to man observation posts in the rugged Arizona desert.
Posted by Suzanne at February 9, 2005