Supremacists a border worry
Sat Mar 5, 2005 17:52
64.140.159.69
Supremacists a border worry
FBI, civilian group are concerned about racists joining border sweeps next month.
SUSAN CARROLL
The Arizona Republic Tucson Bureau
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=030505a4_extremists
GARY GAYNOR/Tucson Citizen
'Some people have said I'm racist, and that's just not true. My son-in-law is a full-on Mexican, and my grandson is half-Mexican. It's not a race thing. This is an enforcement of law issue.'
- Minuteman Project organizer Jim Gilchrist
TOMBSTONE - The FBI and leaders of a civilian patrol set to descend on southern Arizona next month to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border say they are becoming increasingly concerned about white supremacists and other extremists joining the effort.
The Internet-driven recruiting effort for the Minuteman Project has almost 900 volunteers and last week alone generated more than 1 million hits on the project's Web site, organizers said.
But the patrol also has drawn major interest on white supremacist Web sites and in their chat rooms. An Aryan Nation site links directly to the Minuteman Project home page with the words: "A call for action on part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS."
FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovitz said the civilian patrol's plan to converge on this town of 1,500 on April 1 for a monthlong stakeout on the border is "definitely a concern." She declined to elaborate.
Jim Gilchrist, who launched the project, sometimes thinks of his brainchild and asks, "Oh, man, what have I created?" Still, Gilchrist, 56, a retired California accountant and Vietnam War veteran, said he is confident the group's efforts will be a "peaceful protest" by "patriots" who reject violence, and that members will successfully weed out any extremists.
The Minuteman Project is an outgrowth of an effort started in 2002 by Chris Simcox, a retired kindergarten teacher and California transplant. He founded an organization called Civil Homeland Defense, which patrols the desert, finds illegal immigrants and relays their locations to U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Simcox, 44, describes the efforts as a kind of expanded "neighborhood watch."
Gilchrist heard news accounts of Simcox's work, came to Arizona to meet him and in October launched the nationwide recruiting drive for the Minuteman Project.
The group's members plan to hold demonstrations and conduct round-the-clock patrols for a month in the San Pedro Valley, a popular smuggling corridor. Organizers say some volunteers may stay for days, while others plan to remain the whole month.
Gilchrist acknowledged all the attention has attracted fringe groups, mainly three "violent" factions that are trying to co-opt the group's efforts: white supremacists, radical pro-Hispanic groups and "open-border fanatics."
Organizers of the Minuteman Project say they are working to weed out overt racists from membership rolls and say they have turned over three people to the FBI. The agency would not confirm that information.
Simcox said applicants are screened, noting that the group identified a person who was posting on a white supremacist Web site and kicked him off the patrol. All members will be issued ID badges, Simcox said, and anyone who is not pre-registered will not be allowed to participate. All will be required to provide a drivers license.
Simcox said he was upset by the association with the white power Web sites but has no way to stop them from linking to the Minuteman site. The project is listed under an Aryan Nation Web site's calendar of white power events. And the site has a chat room dedicated to the effort, including a posting talking about killing Mexican soldiers and sending them home in body bags.
The Aryan Nation did not return messages seeking comment. Its Web site includes a message that the group is "not interested in participating with any commercial media," in part because of "your anti-white stance."
Hedi Beirich, deputy director of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, is skeptical of Minuteman organizers' claims that they will be able to weed out white supremacists.
"You have this vulnerable population crossing the border, and these semi-crazed Nazis who hate immigrants. It's just a combustible mix."
Minuteman organizers, who maintain that their efforts are an expression of their First Amendment rights, are taking the association with "racists" personally.
"Some people have said I'm racist, and that's just not true," Gilchrist said. "My son-in-law is a full-on Mexican, and my grandson is half-Mexican.
"It's not a race thing. This is an enforcement of law issue. I've said this so many times I get tired talking about it."
\\\\\\\\\\\\
AZ REPUBLIC SPINS MINUTEMAN PROJECT INTO RACISM - FBI concerned about racists participation in watch
Posted by PHXnews on Saturday March 5, 2005 at 11:40 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=19080
America's Most Dangerous Gang
FBI, civilian group are concerned about racists joining border sweeps next month.
SUSAN CARROLL
The Arizona Republic Tucson Bureau
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=local&story_id=030505a4_extremists
GARY GAYNOR/Tucson Citizen
'Some people have said I'm racist, and that's just not true. My son-in-law is a full-on Mexican, and my grandson is half-Mexican. It's not a race thing. This is an enforcement of law issue.'
- Minuteman Project organizer Jim Gilchrist
TOMBSTONE - The FBI and leaders of a civilian patrol set to descend on southern Arizona next month to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border say they are becoming increasingly concerned about white supremacists and other extremists joining the effort.
The Internet-driven recruiting effort for the Minuteman Project has almost 900 volunteers and last week alone generated more than 1 million hits on the project's Web site, organizers said.
But the patrol also has drawn major interest on white supremacist Web sites and in their chat rooms. An Aryan Nation site links directly to the Minuteman Project home page with the words: "A call for action on part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS."
FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovitz said the civilian patrol's plan to converge on this town of 1,500 on April 1 for a monthlong stakeout on the border is "definitely a concern." She declined to elaborate.
Jim Gilchrist, who launched the project, sometimes thinks of his brainchild and asks, "Oh, man, what have I created?" Still, Gilchrist, 56, a retired California accountant and Vietnam War veteran, said he is confident the group's efforts will be a "peaceful protest" by "patriots" who reject violence, and that members will successfully weed out any extremists.
The Minuteman Project is an outgrowth of an effort started in 2002 by Chris Simcox, a retired kindergarten teacher and California transplant. He founded an organization called Civil Homeland Defense, which patrols the desert, finds illegal immigrants and relays their locations to U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Simcox, 44, describes the efforts as a kind of expanded "neighborhood watch."
Gilchrist heard news accounts of Simcox's work, came to Arizona to meet him and in October launched the nationwide recruiting drive for the Minuteman Project.
The group's members plan to hold demonstrations and conduct round-the-clock patrols for a month in the San Pedro Valley, a popular smuggling corridor. Organizers say some volunteers may stay for days, while others plan to remain the whole month.
Gilchrist acknowledged all the attention has attracted fringe groups, mainly three "violent" factions that are trying to co-opt the group's efforts: white supremacists, radical pro-Hispanic groups and "open-border fanatics."
Organizers of the Minuteman Project say they are working to weed out overt racists from membership rolls and say they have turned over three people to the FBI. The agency would not confirm that information.
Simcox said applicants are screened, noting that the group identified a person who was posting on a white supremacist Web site and kicked him off the patrol. All members will be issued ID badges, Simcox said, and anyone who is not pre-registered will not be allowed to participate. All will be required to provide a drivers license.
Simcox said he was upset by the association with the white power Web sites but has no way to stop them from linking to the Minuteman site. The project is listed under an Aryan Nation Web site's calendar of white power events. And the site has a chat room dedicated to the effort, including a posting talking about killing Mexican soldiers and sending them home in body bags.
The Aryan Nation did not return messages seeking comment. Its Web site includes a message that the group is "not interested in participating with any commercial media," in part because of "your anti-white stance."
Hedi Beirich, deputy director of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, is skeptical of Minuteman organizers' claims that they will be able to weed out white supremacists.
"You have this vulnerable population crossing the border, and these semi-crazed Nazis who hate immigrants. It's just a combustible mix."
Minuteman organizers, who maintain that their efforts are an expression of their First Amendment rights, are taking the association with "racists" personally.
"Some people have said I'm racist, and that's just not true," Gilchrist said. "My son-in-law is a full-on Mexican, and my grandson is half-Mexican.
"It's not a race thing. This is an enforcement of law issue. I've said this so many times I get tired talking about it."
\\\\\\\\\\\\
AZ REPUBLIC SPINS MINUTEMAN PROJECT INTO RACISM - FBI concerned about racists participation in watch
Posted by PHXnews on Saturday March 5, 2005 at 11:40 am MST [ Send Story to Friend ]
http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=19080
America's Most Dangerous Gang
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
