Minutemen headed here warned they, too, will be watched Rights groups, archbishop say border watchers aren't welcome
By EDWARD HEGSTROM Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
<http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3258963>
The local Catholic archbishop and immigrant rights activists want to roll up the welcome mat before the Minutemen arrive to patrol for illegal immigrants in Houston.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an organization working to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, announced this week that it would send observers to watch day laborers in Houston beginning in October. Previous plans called for placing patrols only along the Mexican border.
But Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said the Minutemen would not be welcome in Houston.
"We stand against any attempts of outsiders to come into Houston to abuse and intimidate our immigrant communities," Fiorenza said in a statement issued Friday.
Separately, immigrant rights organizations announced that they would fight fire with fire by forming an organization to counteract the Minutemen.
"For every Minuteman patrolling, we will have at least 10 people patrolling them," said Maria Jimenez, a longtime local activist now associated with the Central American Resource Center, or CRECEN.
Jimenez and CRECEN leader Teodoro Aguiluz threatened to file a lawsuit if they observe the Minutemen doing anything illegal.
"We will respond to your organization with our organization," Jimenez said to the Minutemen. "We're not shy about it."
The advocates have called on the city to officially "disinvite" the Minutemen, but city leaders say that is unlikely. The mayor has said he does not see the need to pass an official resolution on the subject, and City Councilman Adrian Garcia said it would be hard to promote such a measure without mayoral support.
Jimenez estimated that there are 50 informal labor markets in Houston where day laborers gather looking for work from contractors. She said pro-immigrant groups would have at least 10 observers at each site.
One of the sites is just down the street from the CRECEN office, at the corner of Bellaire and Hillcroft, where dozens of workers gather every morning looking for work.
A city-funded day labor site is in the area, but the vast majority of workers prefer to seek work in the streets.
Some of those workers said Friday that they worry about the Minutemen.
"It's like racism," said one, who identified himself only as Juan. "All we want is a chance to survive."
Drawing some support Business owners in the area say they might welcome some effort to get the day laborers off the streets.
"They mess up the surroundings with their trash, and they are very aggressive, which scares the customers," said Mohammed Uddin, an immigrant from Bangladesh who owns the Citgo station at Hillcroft and Bellaire. "It's bad for business."
Some of the immigrants say they worry about the potential for violence. At the CRECEN news conference, representatives noted that many Latin Americans have had bad experiences with vigilantes back home, and they drew direct parallels with the Minutemen.
"In the countries we come from, these groups outside the law are known as death squads" or paramilitaries, Aguiluz said.
But Bill Parmley, who heads the Minutemen in Texas, dismissed the comparison to Central American death squads as absurd.
"The only thing we're going to be carrying is a video camera," Parmley said. "That's the difference between their country and our country."
There were no reports of violence during the initial patrols the Minutemen held in Arizona last April. But some law officials have expressed a concern about the potential for vigilante violence.
The Minutemen in Texas originated out of a series of meetings this year in Goliad County, where landowners have become alarmed by the illegal immigrants being smuggled along the area's rural roads. Ranchers and other owners began holding meetings, and area law officers attended.
Bee County Sheriff Carlos Carrizales said he attended the first two meetings but stopped going after becoming concerned by the tone.
"During the second meeting, someone in the back shouted: 'Can't we just shoot 'em,' " in reference to illegal immigrants, Carrizales recalls. "Then others started to feed on that."
Checking backgrounds Parmley concedes that the statement was made, but he disputes the sheriff's contention that others joined in. The Minuteman leader said those who want to join his organization must go through an extensive background check, which includes looking not only for criminal history but also for things like white-supremacist tendencies.
Parmley is the official Texas leader of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the group that was formed in Arizona. He said the campaign in Houston will be led by volunteers who live in Houston.
A separate group, which calls itself the Texas Minutemen, has been formed out of the Dallas area and plans to patrol near El Paso in October.
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