DenverPost.com
Three GOP Colorado legislators will spend two nights patrolling the Arizona desert in search of illegal immigrants next week.
Escorted by a controversial group known as the Minuteman Project, the armed patrols are part of a week-long fact-finding mission that will include discussions with local lawmakers in the state hardest hit by the illegal flow of immigrants across the border.
"We need to understand this thing firsthand," said Rep. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who will lead the group. "It is affecting every area of society, and we have to deal with it."
Schultheis said the legislators - including Rep. Jim Welker of Loveland and Rep. Bill Crane of Arvada - are paying for the trip themselves. They plan to carry guns during the patrols.
He described the mission as a prelude to a major Republican push to address illegal immigration in the Colorado legislature.
Posted by Richard at September 30, 2005