Group remains unsure of plans for Brownsville
By Sara Inés Calderón The Brownsville Herald
<http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=66502_0_10_0_C>
FALFURRIAS, August 10, 2005 — The Minutemen have arrived in South Texas but major operations are still not expected to start until October, group officials said Tuesday.
About 20 members of the civilian border patrol group met here last weekend to develop strategies to halt illegal immigration in Brooks and Jim Hogg counties.
The group remains unsure whether it plans to patrol near Brownsville.
"Right now we are in our reconnaissance and planning stage," said Minutemen organizer and local ranch owner Michael Vickers. "We are getting our communication equipment together and we're getting our maps ready."
Vickers said the South Texas group is between 50 and 100 strong – but growing. He expects 150 people deployed here the first weekend in October and 400 to 500 the second weekend.
The weekend began with an orientation at Vickers' ranch and 50-mile tour of pick-up and drop-off points and pathways for illegal immigration, he said.
Brooks County Sheriff Balde Lozano said he has not been contacted by either the Minutemen or the ranchers who want to work with them.
He said the Minutemen would encounter a much different climate in Falfurrias where his department has its "hands full" with illegal immigration.
Among Lozano's concerns were conflicts with the Minutemen patrolling near privately owned lands, encountering armed passersby during hunting season and dealing with criminal activity along the border.
Vickers acknowledged the dangerous elements in Falfurrias but maintained that his group would end illegal immigration here.
"There is no question that we're going to shut this traffic down," he said. "This weekend volunteers will be deployed in the Falfur-rias area to test communication equipment."
He said most people at the weekend meeting were not from the area.
"Volunteers will be deployed before, during and even after October," he said, "because the aim of the Minutemen is to impact the big picture.
"Eventually … we'll have a line from Baffin Bay to Laredo and beyond."
Border Patrol spokesman Roy Cervantes would not comment about the Minutemen's operations in Texas.
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