http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4798759/detail.html
Minutemen organizers say they'll pull out of the California border region on Sunday, Aug. 8, NBC4's Chuck Henry reported.
Tensions have risen lately between the Minutemen and protesters who call themselves "Border Angels" and claim their civil rights are being violated.
Henry showed videotape of a July 24 confrontation between the two groups. The videotape was obtained from Brown Leather Productions, an independent photographer's company. The videographer said all the video was shot on public, not private, land, on the U.S. side of the border, near Campo.
The video showed a verbal confrontation between the immigration activists on both sides.
Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen project, was present at the conflagration, pushing his bull horn up against the bull horn of activists on the other side.
"What caught our attention is something seen here (on the videotape) that the border patrol has been warning about since the Minutemen project began in Arizona some time ago -- guns," Henry said. "Weapons, including shotguns and handguns, were in plain sight."
In an earlier interview, Gilchrist told Henry the armed Minutemen are within the law.
"Ten percent of our members are retired career law enforcement officers who have a right to carry a concealed weapon and will probably carry -- and you won't know it," Gilchrist said.
A Border Patrol supervisor for the San Diego sector told Henry that the Minutemen can openly carry weapons if they are on private land with the owner's permission.
"But the Border Patrol has been warning that this is an extremely dangerous area because of heavy smuggling," Henry said. "Just last month, a border agent was shot in the same area."
Henry noted that on the videotape, no weapons were seen drawn or pointed at anyone, even though the situation between the protesters and the Minutemen became very heated at times.
At the end, the video showed the Minutemen leaving in a hurry.
The Border Patrol told Henry that since the Minutemen have been on the California border in the past several months, they have assisted in only two apprehensions.
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