By Alex Meneses Miyashita, Hispanic Link News Service June 22, 2005
<http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=LATINOS-MINUTE-06-22-05&cat=II>
- Following its initial demonstration in April along the Arizona border, three of the leaders of the Minuteman Project have parted ways, with each staking out new turf.
Founder James Gilchrist, of California, now heads Minuteman Project, Inc., which he says will concentrate on internal U.S. immigration issues and will target employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
Arizona-based newspaper publisher Chris Simcox, co-founder of the original group, now runs the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He says his group has chapters in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, and it plans weekend and holiday patrols in New Mexico.
He says it will launch longer-term efforts in California on Sept. 16, followed in October with actions elsewhere.
Former Minuteman volunteer James Chase has created the United States Border Patrol Auxiliary, which is based in California. Its chapters have adopted the names Arizona Minutemen, California Minutemen, New Mexico Minutemen and Texas Minutemen.
One of his groups, the 40-member New Mexico Minutemen, has taken the lead, starting patrols June 12 along a portion of the state's border with Mexico.
Chase identifies his missions as ensuring national security. He says his organization's priorities are to prevent terrorists, drug smugglers and felons from coming into the country.
Chase says his border patrol auxiliary will report immigrants crossing the border without documents, but would distinguish itself from Simcox's group and the original Minuteman Project in that "if people come across the border, we will give them water, food and blankets."
But Mike Gaddy, director of the New Mexico chapter of the group headed by Simcox, said members of the New Mexico Minutemen could end up joining his group of about 950 members in an effort to reconcile conflicts between the two leaders.
Paul Martinez, director of the League of United Latin American Citizens Council in Las Cruces, New Mexico, says that regardless of their differences, both groups are going to exacerbate racial tensions in the state.
Martinez emphasizes that his organization is particularly concerned about civil rights violations committed by any of the citizen militia groups. It is trying to identify provisions in the state law that could be used to prevent these groups from engaging in further activities. He adds that he is also encouraging immigrants to report abuses.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has expressed strong opposition to the groups. Similarly, 11 state senators in Texas have come out against civilian border patrols.
In spite of criticism from a number of groups in his state, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declined to back away from his public praise of the efforts of the original Arizona Minuteman Project.
Alex Meneses Miyashita is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service. He may be contacted by e-mail at alex at hispaniclink.org.
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