By Bryan Mitchell November 20, 2005
<http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4249705,00.ht ml>
Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker is a two-time gubernatorial candidate and self-described American Indian activist with a penchant for media coverage. David Foust is a car dealer and grandfather who is determined to see the United States enforce its immigration statutes.
Together, they are the leadership of a fledgling organization working to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
Their group, the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen, is comprised of about a dozen members who meet on an irregular schedule at locations across East Tennessee.
"The subject has bothered me for a long time," Foust said. "I felt like I couldn't just walk away from it and do nothing."
The group started this spring with a meeting at the Morristown Public Library that drew a few dozen people. At their next meeting, nearly 50 attended.
The group is an outgrowth of the Arizona Border Watch, a group led by David Heppler that reportedly took part in the Minuteman movement last April in Arizona. Thousands of volunteers from across the country, including Whitaker, converged on the Arizona-Mexico border to act as observers at some of the most popular border crossing locations.
"My president and my government won't do their job at the border," Foust said. "It's not immigration, it's a migration."
Passions ran high at the Morristown meetings, where people from across Hamblen County voiced their concerns about Hispanic immigrants.
Some charged the children of illegal immigrants should be kicked out of public schools. Others called for the federal government to be more vigilant in enforcing laws that prohibit hiring illegal immigrants.
More than one person in attendance said the government should undertake a massive deportation of all undocumented immigrants.
The group has met outright opposition from Hispanic advocacy agencies in East Tennessee.
Santos Aguilar, president of Alianza del Pueblo, has contended the TVM group is terrorizing the local Latino community.
"They are trying to recruit a bunch of angry old men to take part in something they don't quite understand the ramifications of," he said in response to an August meeting of the TVM. "These guys are terrorizing the community; they are terrorizing the Hispanic population."
Rio Valeriano, chairman of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee, said last summer that he fears a vigilante group focusing on the Latino community.
"Anytime you have an agency take the law into its own hands, not-so-good things can happen," Valeriano said.
But Foust said TVM members in Hamblen and Knox counties have the same goal: to report businesses that employ illegal immigrants.
"We want to make people aware that you have some employers who are not following the law," Foust said. "We want to get their attention."
The 53-year-old Lake City native said he recently met with Gary Slaybough, the resident agent in charge of the Knoxville branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"I wanted to make sure they understand what our agenda was," Foust said. "All we want to do is help."
Foust said his group is not a hate group and refuses any members who condone violence as a means to their ends.
"Anytime someone brings it up, you're a racist or a hate monger or a hate group," he said. "Something needs to be done about that."
Controversy also has come from as far away as Arizona, where Heppler has charged that Whitaker has been misusing the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen name.
Despite the controversy, Foust said he is dedicated to the cause.
"I believe we can make a difference, but it's going to take a concerted effort on the part of the people of East Tennessee," he said. "It affects so many areas of our lives."
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