charlotte.com
Despite an affinity for the liberal welfare state, Americans are still a resourceful people. Some don't buy the idea that there is nothing we can do about 10 to 12 million illegal aliens residing in the country and hundreds of thousands more entering every year.
In the western United States, there's a growing movement determined to prove that securing our Southern border is not a hopeless proposition.
In April, a group calling itself the Minuteman Project devised a large "neighborhood watch" along two stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border, east and west of Naco, Ariz. The 23-mile area has long been known as a crossing point for illegal immigrants.
Organized by James Gilchrist, a retired California CPA and Vietnam veteran, and Chris Simcox, publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper in Arizona, the group trained some 820 volunteers from more than 40 states and during April deployed them along the border in multiple observation posts, around the clock. Some were armed. Some were not. Some had military background; some didn't.
According to an article by Jerry Seper in the May 1 Washington Times, many used global positioning systems, shortwave radios, walkie-talkies, binoculars and cell phones. With their efforts publicized beforehand, they watched, waited and reported illegals to authorities.
The results were impressive. According to Seper, during April 2004, U.S. Border Patrol agents caught 64,000 illegals in the Naco area.
With the Minuteman "neighborhood watch" in place this April, a deterrent effect was created, dropping the number to fewer than 5,000, with Minuteman surveillance responsible for hundreds of apprehensions. Seper's report said the Minuteman Project was "grudgingly credited by both the U.S. and Mexican governments with significantly cutting illegal immigration ... "
Posted by Suzanne at June 28, 2005